


Get Fit (It'll be Fun, they Said)

by weonlyliveonce



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Diggle makes the best coffee, F/M, Felicity gets a shock, Felicity joins a gym, Oliver Queen works out, Oliver's being sneaky, The VP at her work is stupid
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-18
Updated: 2015-02-12
Packaged: 2018-02-21 14:56:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 29,153
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2472368
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/weonlyliveonce/pseuds/weonlyliveonce
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Felicity decides to join the gym around the corner from her favorite coffee shop. Because she makes brilliant decisions once in a while and the hot guy she sees at the coffee shop the first time? Well, he'll make going to the gym totally worth it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Decision

**Author's Note:**

> So, hi! Remember me? I hope so, it's been a while. Anyway, this is something I've been working on in between assessments and I had to split it into two because, well, it's one long word document. So, I hope you guys enjoy this and I should add the other part by about Tuesday.
> 
> Please, everyone, enjoy!

**_Get Fit (It will be Fun, they Said)_ **

**Chapter I: The Decision  
**

It all starts because Felicity decides she needs to get fit.

This decision is one she makes every two years or so and is mostly a snap decision made when she'd finished yet another tub of Ben & Jerry's and was slipping into a sugar coma.

It's the moment just before she succumbs to the sugar that she decides she should probably balance out her sugar intake with some exercise.

This time around though, Felicity decides that if she's really going to get into a new exercise regime and not give up after, like, a week, then she should probably spend some money.

So she joins a gym.

Because brilliant ideas like this come to her every once in a while.

* * *

Felicity joins the gym around the corner from her apartment.

She doesn't pick it because of the proximity to her house or because they offer her the best deal or because their equipment is any less shiny and intimidating than others.

Of course not.

All those reasons would be logical.

She chooses the gym around the corner solely for the coffee shop next door to it.

It's a fantastic little shop, a little bit kitschy but the coffee is amazing and there's a barista there – who she's pretty sure owns the coffee shop – that makes the best coffee she's ever had.

So, she figures that because her gym is next to this particular coffee shop, she'll reward herself with the great coffee after a hard slog at the gym.

The issue, of course, is that the first day of her get fit plan, she skips the gym part in favor of the coffee reward.

She knows that this defeats the purpose of her snap decision to get fit but, well, her favorite barista was there and she couldn't help herself.

So, she's sitting there, with her large perfectly made latte by her favorite barista, playing on her table and considering stepping into the gym building maybe tomorrow when possibly the hottest man she's ever seen walks into the coffee shop.

He's tall, broad and ridiculously built with a jawline covered in five o'clock shadow. He's also chuckling at whatever it is that her favorite barista has said to him about his order and looks unbelievably attractive while doing that.

Felicity does the natural thing when she sees him.

She, sort of, stares at him.

Sort of meaning she's full on staring at this hot guy ordering his coffee.

In her perusal of this hot man, Felicity notices something.

The name of the gym she'd joined is emblazoned across the back of the loose tank he's wearing.

Maybe she will go to the gym before her coffee tomorrow.

Maybe.

* * *

Felicity goes to the gym before her coffee the next day.

Not because she really wants to or because she's reaffirming her decision to get fit but because she figures that there's a good chance that the hot guy she'd seen yesterday would be there.

And if that makes her sound like a stalker, then she's okay with that.

Turns out, after ten minutes on the cross-trainer, she's really not okay with it.

There's swear pouring down her face, her legs feel like jelly and she's suddenly reminded of _why_ she makes the decision to get fit every two years and gives up after a week.

Exercise is _hard_.

And it's only been ten minutes.

Still, she perseveres. Putting herself through the treadmill, weights and this horrible, horrible thing called 'core strength'.

Felicity really has no idea what that means.

What she does know is that her whole body shook while she was trying to do it and she's actually really concerned about how her stomach muscles will feel tomorrow morning.

It's the last time she'll take advice from anyone who looks fitter than she is.

In any case, by the time she walks out of the gym and into the reception area, she most certainly has earned her coffee.

She has not, however, seen the hot guy from yesterday.

Only slightly disappointed in this, Felicity leaves the gym and heads towards the coffee shop, fully intending on enjoying the coffee she's worked so hard for.

Her phone goes off just as she's stepping into the shop and Felicity frowns a little when she sees she, apparently, needs to get into work, ASAP.

It's because she's trying to figure out why she needs to be at work that Felicity isn't paying attention to what's happening around her.

This happens a lot.

The not paying attention part, not what happens next.

'Cause what happens next is she runs headlong into the hot guy from the day before.

"Oh, my God." Felicity yelps as she stumbles backwards.

The guy's chest is _hard_.

"Oh, hey, are you okay?" He reaches out to steady her and Felicity sort of blushes as he grasps her bare upper arm.

He has really big hands and they're a little rough.

"Yep. Yep. I'm good. Totally good. I uh, didn't even spill my coffee. Sort of a miracle considering you're built like a brick wall."

Oh god, she said that out loud.

His eyebrows rise a little at her words and Felicity tries really hard not wince at the looks on his face. It's not the worst look, in fact, he sort of looks amused and Felicity isn't sure what he's thinking.

She doesn't really want to find out, either.

"I have to go. Um, sorry for running into you."

He clearly tries not to smile and takes infinitesimal step to the side.

"Okay. Nice running into you."

Felicity stares at him because she can't quite tell if he's kidding or not.

Felicity then realizes she has to sidle past him because he's not going to move from the entrance to the coffee shop where he's holding the door open. So, taking a deep breath, Felicity tries to sidle past him without touching him.

She thinks she apologizes again because her hand brushes across his abdomen.

She's not _that_ sorry about it, really but it feels like the thing to say.

Especially seeing as she doubts she'll be close enough to feel it ever again.

* * *

Felicity ends up at the gym the next day.

Not because she has any burning desire to put herself through the torture of a workout again but because she read somewhere that exercising helps with sore muscles.

And, boy, are her muscles _sore_.

She thinks maybe she should have taken it easy the day before. Her thighs are screaming and Felicity can't remember the last time she was in this much self-inflicted pain.

Felicity is pretty sure she's not going to last a whole hour at the gym, this time around.

As it is, the treadmill is hurting her.

As soon as she reaches twenty minutes, Felicity slows down and gets off the treadmill, wiping it down and trying to stand on her wobbly legs.

Turning, Felicity yelps as she, once again, plows straight into a broad, solid chest and squeezes her open water bottle a little bit too hard.

"Hey!" Hot Guy exclaims as water sprays all over his chest.

"Oh, my God. I'm so sorry!" Felicity says, staring incredulously at the water soaking the loose tank he's wearing.

She did that.

How on earth did she do _that_?

* * *

"I can't believe you soaked me."

Hot Guy's name turns out to be Oliver and he's still wearing the water soaked tank as they sit down at the coffee shop after ordering.

Felicity blushes. "I can't believe that _you_ ran into me again!"

Oliver grins a little at that, as if he knows something she doesn't. Folding his arms and leaning them on the table, Oliver leans forward.

He looks at her intently for a second and Felicity wonders what he's going to say when there coffee arrives.

The barista is tall, broad and has incredible arms and he's the one who makes the coffee the best. He's also wearing a look that says he knows exactly what's happening here as he places their coffee down.

Felicity notes, interestingly, that Oliver chooses to not look at him as he does.

Maybe it has something to do with the smirk that's working across the baristas face.

"Thank you." Felicity says, looking up at him curiously.

The barista continues to stand there for a second, eyeing the two of them and smirking smugly as Oliver appears to be determined not to look at him.

Felicity thinks that this is weird.

"You are very welcome." He finally says when it becomes clear that Oliver isn't going to look at him.

He smiles at her one more time and then walks away.

"Oooookay. That was weird."

Oliver shrugs, watching as Felicity lifts her coffee to her mouth to take a sip before leaning forward and saying.

"I ran into you again on purpose."

For the second time that day, Felicity sprays Oliver with liquid.

* * *

Oliver spends a lot of time running into her after the second time.

Felicity really doesn't mind that much.

Except when he does things like deliberately scare the hell out of her by jumping onto the treadmill next to hers and starting to talk or lean over the weights table as she puffs her way through her workout.

There's a plus side to this though.

Well, two but the first is that she's definitely becoming much fitter.

Her sugar intake is most definitely being balanced by more than enough exercise.

Also, she gets free coffee.

She also gets to hang out with a really hot guy.

So, maybe it's more like there are three pluses.

Either way, she's feeling better, is always filled to the brim with caffeine and she thinks that maybe, just maybe, for the first time in a really long time, there's a guy that she's interested.

Actually, it's not really a maybe.

She's interested in him.

Oliver's intelligent, confident, with a dry sense of humor and, shockingly, he seems to like her.

Well, Felicity likes to think that he likes her.

He seems to go out of his way to seek her out, he appears to listen when she talks and, even better, he seems to follow what she's saying without any need to interrupt her and ask how they'd gone from one topic to another.

It's a refreshing change from all the other men she's been on dates with in the last year.

Really, the only thing Oliver does that niggles at her sometimes is that he doesn't talk about himself. Not really, anyway.

Which is a bit disconcerting because he pretty much knows everything about her life. From where she'd grown up in Las Vegas, to what her college roommates were like, to her work at Queen's Consolidated. He's also aware of her opinions on things like _Game of Thrones,_ – amazing, beyond amazing. Who knew television could be so good? – why _Frozen_ has to be one of the best Disney films ever – Really, it's Olaf. Who doesn't love Olaf? – and why, exactly she'd joined the gym.

But he still manages to not talk about his life with her.

Felicity's pretty sure he works at the gym though, she thinks he's the manager. He doesn't talk about his family a lot, either. He also had a weird reaction to finding out that she worked in the IT department for Queen Consolidated but shrugged it off when she questioned him.

At any rate, she doesn't know about his family, work or friends. Felicity sometimes thinks that his only friend is the barista, whose name is either Diggle or John.

It's probably both now that she thinks about it.

Either way, Felicity doesn't really know that much about Oliver. Come to think of it, she's not entirely sure what his last name is which should be concerning but it's not.

Which is bizarre.

But she's not that worried.

It's not like Oliver's going to turn out to be anyone but who he says he is.

Whoever that is.

* * *

"Need a latte?"

Felicity jumps a little at Oliver's quiet question and then only just manages to suppress a shiver at the fact that she can _feel_ the heat coming from his body as he leans down to whisper in her ear.

"Ah. Well, um," Felicity clears her throat a little. "Sure, as long as you'll have one with me."

"Sounds good. You can tell me what you're doing while we wait."

Felicity smiles a little tiredly at him and Oliver's brow seems to furrow at it. It's not like she can help it, either. Work has suddenly picked up more than usual and Felicity's sitting in her favorite coffee shop after her workout, doing some work she meant to do the night before and dreading heading into the office.

It's not that she doesn't enjoy her work, it's just that there's some new VP who's just returned from Russia with some suggestions for electronic security that the Russian office had put into practice.

Felicity doesn't much like this new VP.

These suggestions are a nightmare to integrate into their system and the IT department is working overtime to find a compromise that will make this new VP happy.

Not that any of them know who this guy is. So far, he's only interacted with their manager and their manager won't tell.

Felicity doesn't get what the big deal is.

It's not like she's going to tell him how much she doesn't like him.

"So, what're you working on?" Oliver asks, sliding into his seat and giving her his full attention.

He looks good today. His t-shirt is black and pulling tight across his shoulders and Felicity can't help but admire them.

Sighing loudly, she shrugs. "There's a new VP at work and he's given us suggestions about revamping our electronic security system. Of course, he's a VP so he doesn't have to do actual work and you know what? I'm sure if he did, he would have just left it alone because this whole thing is a _nightmare_."

Oliver looks vaguely uncomfortable at her words and Felicity's pretty sure it's because in all their conversations, she's never really expressed any form of irritation.

"Not a fan of the new VP, then?" He asks and Felicity shakes her head.

"Nope. The system was perfectly fine before he returned from Russia and, now, you know what? I have no life because some executive decided this and…ugh. It's annoying. I'm annoyed. Stupid executives. From Russia. Who even goes to Russia? It's cold." Felicity blows out a breath and then leans back in her chair as John Diggle sets her coffee down in front of her.

She's decided that until she figures out what to call aloud, she'll just call him John Diggle in her head.

Sort of like how in _Pocahontas_ , everyone calls John Smith, John Smith.

"There you go, Felicity. Oliver. You're both looking a little stressed." He says, crossing his arms – which are fairly spectacular, she wonders if he goes to the gym next door too – and stares at them. "Anything new?"

Felicity shrugs. "I was just telling Oliver about the new executive at work. Who's decided to make everyone's' life difficult and upgrade the electronic security. Jerk. He could have just stayed in Russia."

Diggle seems to choke a little at her words.

Lifting her latte up, Felicity eyes him because it looks like he's trying to not laugh.

Oliver seems to be purposefully ignoring him again.

"Ah, well, that's terrible. I'm sure if he knew your thoughts, he'd change something." Diggle says with a rather spectacular straight face considering that Felicity was sure he was laughing just before.

"Me too. Unfortunately, nobody knows who he is because nobody's seen him yet."

This time, Diggle really does laugh.

"Oh, I think you'll be surprised. Right, Oliver?"

Oliver doesn't reply, instead he picks up his coffee and takes a long sip.

Felicity's just confused but then she shrugs.

She's pretty sure John Diggle is just being weird.

* * *

Felicity forgets about John Diggle's weirdness the next day.

Because Oliver jumps up onto the treadmill next to her while she's warming down and stares at her.

"Do I have something in my teeth? Or my hair? Is my hair okay?" Felicity asks, worried by the intensity of his stare.

She also woke up late and had only a change to look longingly at her hair iron before yanking her hair back into a tail that doesn't exactly disguise her bed hair.

Sometimes, her curls are really annoying.

"Would you like to go to dinner with me tonight?"

Felicity almost forgets to stop walking.

Almost.

She has no desire to enact countless numbers of YouTube vides where people have fallen off their treadmills.

Still, just to be safe, she slows the treadmill speed down even more before she answers. She also tries to catch her breath.

She can't, so she sort of gasps out.

"Sure."

Oliver seems to try really hard to not grin as widely as possible at her reply.

It's about then that Felicity realizes that she may be in trouble.

There's something really disarming about him trying to downplay his reaction to her agreement.

* * *

Oliver downplaying his reaction to her is not as devastating as the way he looks in a suit.

Given that she's only ever seen seem him in gym clothes, it's not really a surprise that she stares at him when she opens the door for their dinner date.

That she's still sneaking glances at him now, as they amble towards her front door and towards his car, says a lot about how good Oliver looks in a suit.

Dinner itself had been fun. The food had been good, the conversation easy, the wine had been _excellent_ and Felicity can't remember the last time she'd laughed or blushed as much as she had with Oliver.

The walk afterwards had been fun, too. Especially seeing as Felicity's discovered this delightful thing about Oliver where he doesn't really laugh. Not a loud laugh or even a full, outright one, his laugh is more of a low chuckle.

This incredibly sexy low chuckle coupled with the way he looks down when he does it is just…well, Felicity can't remember being this attracted to someone, weeks after they'd first met.

"What's on you mind, now? Work again?" Oliver asks, sounding weirdly apprehensive as Felicity stops at the gate that leads to her building.

Felicity turns to face him and discovers he's so close she has to tilt her head to meet his gaze. Felicity's never had a thing for tall men.

She's reconsidered her lack of a thing.

"Mmm. No." She shakes her head. "I'm thinking I had fun tonight. It was…the easiest first date I've ever been on."

Oliver chuckles again, moving closer to her and Felicity knows her breath hitches and she goes red when he takes her hand, there fingers entwining.

"Of course it was easy. We've drunk a lot of coffee since you ran into me."

Felicity tilts her head backwards on a laugh.

"I suppose there is that." She concedes and Oliver leans down.

"Oliver?"

"Mmm?"

"Are you going to kiss me?"

He moves even closer at that.

"Maybe."

Felicity almost immediately loses any train of thought at that because it sounds like a promise. Taking a deep breath, she suddenly notices he's got this scar just above his right eyebrow. It's not long and she'd bet that it's nothing more than a childhood injury but…she can see it.

And she wants to touch it.

Raising her hand, Felicity does just that.

She gently strokes a fingertip over the scar and the way his eyes darken makes Felicity thinks about what his mouth on hers will feel like.

He doesn't.

Instead, he presses his lips to her cheek

"Good night, Felicity. I'll see you tomorrow for coffee."

He then walks away.

Leaving her standing outside her apartment building, wondering what just happened.

* * *

Felicity is still trying to figure it out the next day when she stops outside the coffee shop after her workout.

She spots Oliver almost immediately because he's walking towards her with this purposeful look on his face.

It's a bit frightening, actually.

"Um, hey – "

She doesn't get much out after that.

Because Oliver takes her face in his hands and kisses her.

_Oh_.

So _that's_ what his mouth on hers feels like.

Incredible.

Oliver pulls away slowly, holding himself for a second so their lips are still touching. Felicity sighs in pleasure and slowly opens her eyes.

That was pretty amazing.

Oliver's watching her as she does and when she smiles at him, he kisses her again before asking.

"Want a coffee?"

* * *


	2. The Discovery

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity finds out who the stupid VP from Russia is. It doesn't end well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to chapter two! So sorry about the wait. I had other things to do...unfortunately, university coursework doesn't stop just because you've handed in your major assessments. Which sucks. In any case, here is the new chapter of Get Fit! You're responses to the first chapter were amazing and the amount of Favorites and Followers was just, like, whoa! So thank you for that! I hope you enjoy this next chapter!
> 
> As always, I don't own Arrow or any of the characters! Also, this is an Alternate Universe, I totally forgot to put that in before!
> 
> Please Enjoy!

Her routine doesn't change that much after Oliver kisses her after their first date.

She still goes to the gym, sweats her way through a workout that's growing less and less painful; has coffee with Oliver and then goes to work.

Except, of course, that instead of grinning at her and standing too close in greeting, Oliver kisses her good morning when they have coffee. Most days, too, she doesn't have to wait until the next morning to see him because he shows up at her apartment and sometimes they go out on a date and some nights, they stay in.

Really, nothing has changed except now she has a boyfriend.

It's kind of wonderful, actually.

All in all, her decision to get fit turned out to not be that bad.

Right up until it goes wrong.

* * *

"You know, Oliver, I still don't know what you do for a living."

They're sitting at their usual booth waiting for Diggle to bring them their coffee when Felicity brings it up.

It's really started to niggle at her that she still doesn't know a lot about Oliver.

Not his background, not a lot about his family – one sister, divorced parents and a stepfather – and that his best friend from childhood is all set to get married to his high school girlfriends. Oliver's high school girlfriend, not his best friend's.

That one had confused Felicity but Oliver had seemed really okay with it. Impressed, actually, that his high school girlfriend had found the perfect foil to her personality in his best friend.

The issue is that Felicity knows all of this but she doesn't know _names_. She's got no clue who his best friend is or what his sister's name is.

They do exist though; she knows this for a fact. He's certainly taken calls from them but then he gets all tricky on her and says stuff like 'oh, it's only my sister calling' or 'it's the groom.'

See? Tricky.

The only friend she knows he has – and is apparently very, very close with – is John Diggle and that's only because Oliver seems to have helped him out with the coffee shop when he'd first started it.

Which was years ago and John Diggle stays very quiet when Felicity asks him questions about Oliver.

She also doesn't know what he does for work.

Felicity knows he _works_ because he'll call her and tell her that he's going to be in a meeting 'til late and won't be able to see her or he'll complain about dealing with people who don't have any clue what they're doing.

So, Felicity knows that he works and has family; he's clearly not lying about that. But he's omitting details and it's really irritating.

She supposes she could have looked him up online, it wouldn't have taken her that long, even without a confirmed last name but she's pretty sure that's crossing some sort of line.

So, she hasn't and now she's going down the honest route and asking him.

"What I do for work?" Oliver asks warily and Felicity eyes him suspiciously.

"Yes, what you do for work. Do you work at the gym? Because I know you're there a lot. Thank you, Mr. Diggle." She says as John Diggle sets her coffee down in front of her and then looks at Oliver.

"Yes, Oliver. Do you work in the gym next door? Because that would be the _perfect_ job for you." John Diggle says, folding his impressive arms and looking at Oliver intently.

Felicity feels like John Diggle is giving Oliver a message.

One Oliver clearly doesn't want to hear because he clears his throat.

Felicity's slowly developing a weird feeling in her stomach because she's suddenly has a feeling that Oliver's not telling her something _major_.

Really major, actually.

Before she can question him, her phone alerts her to an email.

"Damn it. I have to go. My manager and this VP are so…stupid." Felicity says and picks up her coffee, grateful that John Diggle knows her well enough now to always give her the coffee in a takeaway cup.

"Really? They're so stupid? I wonder why." John Diggle says, now almost glaring at Oliver who's shoulders are set in a very straight line.

Felicity thinks that this is weird but decides it doesn't matter.

Leaning down, she kisses Oliver goodbye.

"I'll see you later?"

Oliver looks at her and sighs, kissing her once more.

"Probably sooner than you think." He replies cryptically and Felicity thinks that's weird.

She also doesn't know what he means.

She'll think about it later though because, right now, she has to get to work.

* * *

Oliver's cryptic words make a whole lot more sense an hour and a half later.

The head of the IT departments called in sick and requested the Felicity go to the meeting with new VP about the most recent changes to the system.

She's not overly happy about this meeting.

She doesn't even know whom she's supposed to be meeting only that she has to go to the twenty-eighth floor and a conference room there and talk about upcoming changes to the system she'd learned of an hour ago.

Stupid manager and VP.

Still, she does what she's told and when she walks into the conference room, she stops dead.

The VP standing at the head of the table looks _way_ too familiar.

"Hello, Felicity."

" _Oliver?_ "

The weird feeling in her stomach threatens to revolt.

It was right.

This is something _major_.

* * *

Apparently, she'd been dating Oliver _Queen_ for the last few weeks.

Past tense because after the conference room incident, she's most definitely _not_ dating Oliver Queen.

Oliver Queen, son of the CEO of Queen Consolidated and the deputy Mayor of Starling City. Stepson of the guy in charge of one of the major banks. Party boy who disappeared to Russia for five years. Some said he'd been banished, others that he was sent there to be groomed unencumbered for the position of CEO.

He was sent to Russia to become something else, _someone_ else.

He was also a serial dater of models, actresses, socialites and, apparently, _her._

Felicity doesn't even know how this _happened_.

She thinks she was in serious shock in the conference room because she had absolutely nothing to say to Oliver as he'd tried to explain to her why he hadn't told her who he _really_ was.

It had gone a bit like this 'blah, blah, blah. You didn't know. I liked that. Blah, blah, blah, women are horrible when they find out I'm a billionaire. Blah, blah, blah, nobody knew I'd come home from Russia and I thought you were pretty.'

Blah, blah, _blah_.

Well, it hadn't gone _exactly_ like that but Felicity had been in too much shock to care.

Now? Now she just feels _stupid_.

Oh, she gets that he'd been gone for five years and that, in that time, he'd cut his hair and decided on a designer five o'clock shadow but she hadn't known who he _was_. She'd had no inkling, no clue and here she is dating the most eligible bachelor in Starling City, according to all the gossips websites.

How _dumb_ is she?

She'd thought he worked at the gym. The _gym_. She'd insulted him to his face because she didn't know who the hell he was.

Honestly, how was she supposed to know he was the VP instigating all these new security changes?

She'd called him stupid. To his face. Several times. Because he hadn't told her who he really was.

It's really all his fault.

And the worst part is she's now never going to her coffee shop again.

Not when there's a real possibility that he'll be there, waiting for her.

Which is just great.

She now has no relationship and has to find a new coffee shop.

_Stupid VP._

* * *

Felicity caves on the coffee shop front.

She can't help it.

It's _really_ good coffee.

She second she walks in though, John Diggle spots her and his eyebrows rise, she's pretty sure in concern.

It's not a surprise, really.

Felicity's deliberately come on her lunch hour so she avoids Oliver.

"Felicity, how are you?" He asks, sending the girl who was about to serve her scurrying with one look.

"Fine. I'm fine. All good. Can I have my usual? And a blueberry muffin?" She asks, determined to not answer his question seriously.

She knows she shouldn't get the muffin but after finding out who Oliver was, her daily sugar intake has quadrupled and she's been nowhere near the gym.

John Diggle nods thoughtfully and efficiently makes her coffee, adding an extra shot that makes her smile and placing two muffins in a paper bag instead of one.

He places them all on the counter and shakes his head when she pulls out her debit card.

"No. This is going Oliver's tab." He tells her with a somber look and Felicity tries and fails to not let her shoulders drop. "You know, Felicity, he didn't lie to make you feel stupid. He lied because he likes you. He figured telling you the truth would freak you out and you'd stop seeing him."

Felicity stares at John Diggle.

Of course he was going to take Oliver's side in this.

" _That's_ exactly what happened, Mr. Diggle."

He nods. "I know. I'm not trying to justify what he did, just explain it. Just remember that he didn't lie to make you feel stupid. He likes you and he does stupid things when he likes someone."

Felicity wrinkles her nose at that. Because it sort of does sound like he's justifying what Oliver's done.

She doesn't like it.

"That's really not an excuse. He lied to me. I was dating the son of the CEO of my work and I had no idea. That's not cool. It's sort of like…I don't know, _Fifty Shades of Grey._ Just without the kinky, slightly uncomfortable sex and, you know what? It doesn't matter." Felicity says hastily, seeing the awkward look that shifts across John Diggle's face. "He lied. That's not cool and I feel stupid because he lied. And I'm still mad. Okay? So if he asks, just tell him I'm still mad."

Felicity's pretty sure saying mad three times will get the point across.

John Diggle doesn't say anything, so Felicity takes it as her cue to leave.

Picking up her two muffins and coffee, she heads out the door, very aware that John Diggle is most probably going to tell Oliver what she said.

* * *

John Diggle most definitely told Oliver what she said.

Because the next morning when she walks into her cubicle, she stops and looks around the office suspiciously.

There's a large coffee cup sitting on her desk.

She recognizes the cup; it's from John Diggle's coffee shop.

Stepping closer, she picks it up gingerly, half-expecting Oliver to popup and announce they need to talk.

Oliver doesn't do well when asking things of people.

She turns the cup around and stops short when she sees a handwritten message, residing where the shorthand for her order should be.

A handwritten message from _Oliver_.

It says: _I'm sorry you're mad._

Damn it.

He knows her weakness.

* * *

John Diggle looks contrite the next time Felicity walks into the coffee shop.

"You told him." She accuses.

He shrugs.

"Oliver asked. Besides, he had to pay for your muffins." He raises an eyebrow and Felicity narrows her eyes. "Are you having your usual?"

Felicity tilts her head and considers the look on his face. John Diggle has gone from looking contrite to looking devious and she has no idea why. She's just ordering coffee. Coffee is not devious.

But John Diggle is.

"Yes."

"Okay."

Felicity's phone alerts her to a message as John Diggle moves to make her order and she opens up her phone to see an email from work. Thumbing through it, Felicity heaves a frustrated sigh.

So, maybe, when she found out exactly who the stupid VP from Russia was she'd handed off most of the work to her colleagues. Unfortunately for her, she'd been shouldering the more complicated code and since handing it off, she's been getting more emails than usual.

"Here you go." John Diggle hands her the fresh coffee and Felicity takes it absently.

"Thanks."

Shoving her phone back into her bag with the decision to deal with the emails back at the office, Felicity raises her cup to her lips and then pauses.

The takeaway cups that Diggle has are all the same. They're white with the logo of the café and black lids. If there's writing on them, it's the coffee order.

But Diggle already knows her coffee order.

So there shouldn't be writing on it.

Bringing it away from her mouth, Felicity turns the coffee cup around to see what it says.

_I'm sorry I made you feel stupid._

Well. Okay.

Her heart just melted a little.

* * *

The next day, Felicity's coffee is waiting on her desk in the morning.

This one says: _I'm sorry I lied to you_.

Her heart melts a little more.

* * *

The one the day after that comes with an apple and cinnamon muffin.

Baked fresh because when she picks it up, the muffin is still warm and Felicity wonders how early Oliver was at the coffee shop to pick up a freshly baked muffin.

Either that or he paid John Diggle to bake a batch so it'd be fresh on her desk.

Felicity isn't sure which.

Strangely enough, both sound like something Oliver would do to get his way.

It's a little bit sweet.

Almost as sweet as writing messages on her coffee cups.

Both are threatening to melt her heart.

Especially the next message.

_I thought you were pretty the second I ran into you._

Well, Oliver certainly has a way with words.

Felicity thinks she might be on her way to forgiving him.

The freshly baked muffin certainly has helped, anyway.

* * *

She sneaks into the gym the next afternoon.

Felicity doesn't know why she's sneaking into the gym. She knows absolutely Oliver isn't there because he's in a meeting with her boss.

She'd doubled checked that. Just to be sure.

Felicity's heart may be melting at every written message on her coffee cups – which she has carefully washed out and now sit in a line on her desk, the messages facing her – but her heads still unsure.

She's not quite sure what to do with Oliver Queen.

Oh, she knew what to do with the Oliver-who-wouldn't-name-himself. But Oliver Queen? Not so much.

So, she's resorted to sneaking into her gym because she still doesn't want to see him because her reaction to him might be a jumble of things.

Though she doubts that she'll walk out the way she did when she'd found out who he was.

Still, Felicity would rather not take that chance.

"Hey!"

Felicity startles at the loud greeting directed at her the second she walks into the gym. Only just managing to maintain a grip on her water bottle, she looks up and eyes the blond walking towards her.

This blond looks tough. She's dressed in black yoga pants, a black sports bra and black sneakers. Her abs are pretty incredible, actually. Felicity doesn't blame her for not wearing a shirt. Her blond hair is pulled up into a high ponytail and she's looking at Felicity curiously.

"Um. Hi?" Felicity says, unsure what's about to happen.

"You're Felicity, right?" The blond asks and, despite looking really tough, she actually looks quite pleased to meet her.

"Um, yes?" Felicity replies and then shakes her head a little. "I'm sorry. I mean, yes. I'm Felicity. No question. I'm definitely Felicity. Well, last time I checked, anyway."

The blond's eyes sparkle enthusiastically at her reply and Felicity suddenly has a sinking feeling in her gut. She suddenly has a good idea how the blond knows who she is.

"It's so good to meet you. I'm Sara Lance. I've been waiting to meet the girl that's got Ollie twisted up into knots."

Sara Lance seems quite enthusiastic about meeting her so Felicity's under the impression that the blond has no idea that she and Oliver aren't together.

"I don't think that's quite accurate. I wouldn't say he's in knots over me. Actually, I wouldn't know. I haven't spoken to him in, like…"

"Two weeks. It's been awesome. Ollie's been freaking out trying to figure out how to convince you to talk to him." Sara leans forward conspiratorially. "Between you and me? I've been enjoying it _way_ more than I should. So has Tommy. No-one can remember Ollie ever being so torn up over a girl."

"Tommy? Who's Tommy?" Felicity asks, suddenly dazed by the news.

Oliver is torn up over this? Really? She's not sure why she's surprised, though. It is clear that Oliver's… _something_ over this. He wouldn't be trying to woo her with coffee cups and muffins if he wasn't.

He also wouldn't be doing it from a distance.

Somehow, Oliver Queen seemed to know her well enough to guess that trying to see her would just make her angrier.

"Tommy Merlyn. Ollie's best friend. He's marrying my sister, Laurel, in a couple of weeks. He's been enjoying the downfall of Oliver Queen a little to much." Sara tells her, folding her arms grinning at Felicity. "Tommy's been waiting for the time when Oliver falls for a girl that doesn't fall at his feet."

Felicity suddenly feels faints. Because she's just realized something.

"So you _all_ know about me? All of you? No-one doesn't know about me?" She asks, her face heating and Sara's enthusiasm dims.

She can clearly see that she's said something wrong.

"Sure. Oliver's been talking about you for weeks. We knew it was something big because he's not that big a fan of coffee and the fact that he was drinking it more than once a day? Big deal."

Felicity's face flames at that.

His friends _knew_ about her. Had known about her for weeks and he still hadn't told her who he was.

"So, you all knew? Even his sister? And mother? Everyone knew about me?" Felicity asks, just to be sure.

The melting heart she'd had this morning is starting to harden up really quickly.

Sara seems to consider her words now. "Well, sure. But that's only because he was excited about it. He was excited about you."

For a second, Felicity finds that really very sweet.

Then she just gets mad all over again.

Because everyone knew about her and she had no idea who he was.

"Well, Sara, it was nice to meet you. Excuse me, though? I need to go and see Oliver. I possibly need to kill him too. Because he's a stupid VP. Okay?" Felicity says darkly and Sara seems surprised at her reaction.

"Okay. Sure. I'll see you – "

Felicity doesn't hear anything after that.

She's too busy stomping out of the gym to care.

His friends and family _knew_ about her. They all knew. But she didn't know, did she? She had no idea that Oliver was Oliver Queen and, you know what? He's stupid.

Stupid Oliver Queen.

Who told all his friends about her but couldn't tell her who he was.

Boy, is he in trouble.

So, so much trouble.

* * *

Oliver's executive assistant gives Felicity absolutely no trouble when she stomps into his office.

In fact, the executive assistant takes one look at her face and blanches a little.

Felicity would feel sorry for her but, well, she's too mad.

"I am here to yell at Mr. Queen. Can you please tell him that?" She tells the woman sitting behind the desk. "Tell him Felicity Smoak is here to yell at him."

The executive assistant looks like she's not sure what to do but she picks up her phone anyway and calls Oliver. Her eyebrows rise in surprise at whatever Oliver tells her and when she puts down her phone, she looks hesitantly at Felicity.

"Mr. Queen says you can wait in his office. He's almost done with his meeting."

"Thank you. If you hear yelling, please don't call security. I'm only informing Mr. Oliver Queen how stupid he is." Felicity says politely before stalking into Oliver's office and shutting the door.

His office is actually pretty nice. Big, well furnished with an amazing ebony desk in the center, piled high with folders and a couch pushed into one corner. Felicity takes it all in and then starts pacing.

She doesn't have to pace long.

Oliver steps into his office and shuts the door firmly behind him maybe ten minutes later. His eyebrows shoot up and Felicity belatedly realizes she's still in her gym clothes. Probably not the best attire because Oliver likes how she looks in her gym clothes.

He's also in a suit and it's making Felicity feel underdressed.

"Felicity. Hello." He says warily.

"You're family and friends _knew_ about me? Like, all of them. Not just John Diggle. They _all_ knew about me and yet, you couldn't tell me who you were?" She snaps at him and Oliver goes very still.

Possibly at the venom in her voice, possibly because of what she's saying.

"Ah. Who told you this?"

"Sara. It was great. I liked meeting her and being informed that my boyfriend told everyone in his life all about me but couldn't tell me who he was. I had such a great time listening to it. Especially seeing as I didn't even know you had a friend called Sara or that your best friends name was Tommy!" Felicity snaps, stepping closer to him so she can poke his chest. She's too mad to really notice how hard it is. "I learned more about your life in a five minute conversation with her than I learned from you. I feel really _stupid_ now."

Oliver stays quiet even as his hand rises to catch hers before she can poke him again.

Felicity startles at the feel of his hand sliding over hers again.

It reminds her that he hasn't touched her in two weeks. Maybe more.

"So, I'm still your boyfriend?" Oliver asks, seemingly quietly hopeful.

Felicity stares at him. She hadn't said that, had she? Rewinding what she's said, she cringes a little.

So, maybe, she did say that.

"I don't know and that's not the point. The point is everyone seemed to know about you except me. And I'm not – "

Oliver kisses her.

Felicity gasps in surprise and then melts into his mouth. His hands entwine with hers as the other one rises to cradle her face.

Felicity grips his shoulder with her other hand and kisses him back. Man, she's missed this. As mad as she is, she's missed kissing him.

But that doesn't change the fact that she's still mad.

Pulling away, Felicity lets go of him and steps back.

"Um. I'm mad, at you? Okay? Really mad. So…yes. Mad."

Oliver's looking at her knowingly, like he knows something she doesn't and Felicity wonders how she lost control of this conversation.

Well, it wasn't really a conversation so much as a confrontation and she's messed that up. She hadn't come up to this office to _kiss_ him. Or tell him that he was boyfriend.

"Okay." Oliver acquiesces easily and Felicity decides she should probably get out of here now.

This hasn't gone how she'd planned.

Sidling past him, Felicity reaches to open the door and Oliver speaks again.

"Felicity? We're not close to being done."

With that ominous warning, Felicity pushes his door open and escapes his office.

She's got a feeling that she's going to be getting more than coffee with cute notes on it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so chapter three is one it's way! Soon hopefully! Also, look out for the next installment of the running series Of Leather Pants, Illegal Activities and Random Kissing. Or the sequel to Disney, Awkwardness and Improvisation. That's nearly done and I should have that up sometime soon, too. So, yay on all fronts! I hope you enjoyed this and, as always, reviews are an authors lifeblood, so please let me know what you think!
> 
> I hope you enjoyed!


	3. The Campaign

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Oliver tries to make it up to Felicity. Again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so, here we go. Third chapter! This has become more than a three chapter thing! Yay! In saying that, only one more chapter to go and I think you'll like where this is going. Because Felicity makes a decision and then, well, it's going to be fun. I hope you all enjoy!

Felicity's feeling was right.

She gets a lot more than a coffee cup with a cute note the next day.

She actually gets Oliver.

It's so bizarre she stops and stares at him when she walked into her cubicle to see him standing with his hands in his suit pockets and half a scowl on his face.

She's not sure where the other half has gone but she's got a feeling it'll return shortly.

"Oliver? What are you doing here?"

His eyes shift to hers and Felicity flushes a little at the stormy look that has turned them grey. Oliver's always had nice eyes but she really likes these darkened eyes.

"Felicity Smoak? Hi. I'm Oliver Queen." He says somberly and Felicity looks at him like he's grown another head. "I'm the new VP that has transferred back from Russia and is in charge of the new updates regarding our internal system. I work out at the gym next to John Diggle's coffee shop. It's nice to meet you."

Felicity doesn't know what to say. Which is, surprisingly, a first for her because she _always_ has something to say.

Excluding that one time when she found out who he was and walked out on him.

She didn't have much to say then.

So, she goes with instinct.

Which turns out to be the brilliant reply of, "um, hi?"

Oliver's mouth ticks upward from the half scowl and he moves closer to her. For a brief moment Felicity thinks he might just be about to grab her and kiss her and, well, she's not sure how down with that she is.

Disappointingly – maybe? – he doesn't and instead steps around her.

"I hope I see you again soon." He murmurs in her ear as he passes and he's so close she can feel the heat coming off him and can't suppress the shiver that runs up and down her spine.

Before she can reply, he's gone and she's left standing in her cubicle, wondering what the hell just happened.

Well, at least until she realizes that he bought her coffee again.

Eagerly – which is irritating because she's supposed to be mad at him, right? – she reaches down and picks it up, excited to see what he's written on the cup.

She has this image of him sitting in John Diggle's café with a pen after hours and laboriously writing down all these messages while John Diggle hovers over him and lectures.

It's really quite an amusing image.

In any case, this one says: _first impressions are important. You made the best one. Both times._

Felicity reads it. Then she re-reads it because, well, firstly, it's a little weird but secondly, it's actually really sweet.

Considering the first time they actually met, she walked right into him and then compared him to a brick wall.

She's not sure what he means by both times but she gets the impression that he's talking about this weird exchange in her cubicle.

It hits her like an arrow two seconds after her first sip of coffee.

Oliver is trying to start again.

That is so… _sweet_.

* * *

Oliver runs into her the next day.

Or he reruns into her, Felicity isn't too sure.

Either way, she's sitting at the table in the coffee shop when Oliver approaches, dressed in his gym clothes. He braces his hands on the back of the chair and looks at her.

Felicity resolutely tries to ignore the way his biceps flex as he does this.

It's _really_ hard to ignore, though.

"Hi. It's nice to see you again." He says and Felicity smiles, sort of curious to see what he'll do or say.

If he is trying to enact their second meeting then he's going to have to be really clever because she's not holding a water bottle or in any position to cover him in water.

Then again, he might not be trying to reenact their first meeting.

"Hi." She says, wondering how this is going to go.

Felicity isn't entirely sure if she's still really, really mad at him or just really mad at him or just confused.

She's shooting for confused, right now.

"I know we only met yesterday but I feel like I should tell you that I have a younger sister. Her name's Thea and she's a force of nature. Her boyfriends name is Roy and he's a delinquent. But she loves him and apparently, because I love her, I have to tolerate him." Oliver says all of this affectionately, as if he's not really that bothered by anything he's saying. "She's one of the people who matters the most to me and one day, I hope that you get to meet her. She'll like you."

Felicity is trying very hard to not blink at all the information Oliver has just bombarded her with. Especially given that he's provided her with twenty times more information in about two minutes than he had the entire time they were together before… _this_.

"Thank you. I think." Felicity says because well, what is she supposed to say? Thank you for tell me all about your sister who knew about me but I didn't know about her?

Felicity isn't sure it would the wisest thing to say.

Especially given that Oliver appears to be making an effort because _she's_ made such a big deal about it.

Which she was perfectly justified in making because he…well, he didn't tell her who he was but told his family about her and that wasn't cool.

"I'll see you later."

Oliver pushes away from the chair and walks off, leaving Felicity sitting at the coffee shop staring after him.

Right up until John Diggle walks up with a coffee and sets it in front of her. Felicity glances up at him in surprise.

"I've become a teenage girl. Passing notes." He tells her with an impressively straight face before turning around and walking off.

Felicity isn't sure whether she should laugh or cry.

Reaching out, she twists the coffee cup around until she sees Oliver's writing.

_She was the first person I told about you._

Blowing out a breath, Felicity slumps back into her chair.

If that's any indication then, well, Oliver's being incredibly sweet.

Because the first person he told was his sister.

Damn it, she's not going to stay mad at him for long if he's going to do this to make it up to her.

Maybe she should forgive him just to save John Diggle's dignity.

* * *

Oliver catches her in the car park the next night.

She's worked late because she's, reluctantly, agreed to take back on some of the work regarding their new system security.

In the time she hasn't been working on it, they've managed to screw it up massively.

Which is why she's walking to her car late with her phone out because it's too late to cook and she really wants pizza.

"Felicity."

She screams at her name.

Spinning on her heel, she sees Oliver clad in jeans and a leather jacket, holding a bike helmet under one arm and absently spinning his keys around his finger.

"Oliver. Why are you trying to scare me to death?" She gasps, holding a hand to her heart and glaring at him.

He considers her for a long moment and Felicity wonders what he's going to say next.

"My parents are Moira and Robert Queen." Felicity fights the urge to say 'no duh' at that as Oliver continues. "They divorced when I was seventeen. I was too involved in my own life to see that they'd fallen out of love and were unhappy with each other. I'm not proud of the tantrum I threw when they told us. My father's never remarried. He's strict but fair and the reason I went to Russia. He's a good father when he remembers that he is one."

Felicity tilts her head in curiosity because Oliver's talking about people who are giants of Starling City. She's seen Moira Queen once and acted like an idiot when she'd seen the stylishly dressed older woman, craning her head and staring at her.

She's only ever seen Robert Queen's photograph.

"What happened when you threw the tantrum?" She asks curiously and Oliver only smiles a little.

"I'll tell you later. My mother married Walter Steele. He was a friend of Dad's and took it upon himself to help raise Thea and straighten me out. Mom loves us." Oliver says simply and Felicity can see that it really is that simple for him. "Mom loves us, so Walter does too. He's a good man and she's happy. That's my family." He says with a shrug, as if he hasn't said anything remotely important.

Felicity knows her mouth is hanging open. She is really quite aware of this but can do nothing but stare at him openmouthed.

He's just told her about his family.

The Queens are notoriously private, really and Felicity's pretty sure that half of what she's ever read about them is made up but Oliver has just told her his family story.

Because he's making what he did up to her?

She may as well ask him. He's standing right in front of her.

"Oliver – " She starts and his lips tick upward before he interrupts her.

"I'll see you later."

He then walks off as if he hasn't bared his family history to her. In fact, Felicity thinks narrowing her eyes at him, he's walking with a little spring in his step.

She bets its because he knows she isn't as mad as she used to be.

Or mad, at all, really.

* * *

Her coffee the next day has two messages on it.

One is distinctively Oliver's and says: _My parents would like to meet you._

Her heart melts a little at that.

The other is distinctly _not_ Oliver's handwriting and says: _You two need to sort this out. My coffee is for drinking, not notes._

She has to giggle at that one.

John Diggle appears to be getting annoyed.

* * *

Felicity has to sit through a meeting with Oliver the next day.

It's surprisingly difficult to concentrate on what their meeting is about when Oliver is sitting opposite her, concentrating on the PowerPoint her boss is speaking about, his large body arranged so it lounges indolently in his chair.

'Cause only someone like Oliver could pull off that look.

Felicity gives up on paying attention and instead focuses on the man sitting opposite her, considering him in what she supposes is his natural environment.

Okay, so, he didn't tell her who he was. Or specifics about his friends and family. Or actually really apologized for doing both those things.

But.

He's put an impressive amount of effort into making it up to her. Seriously. First there were the notes on her coffee that sort of apologized but sort of didn't and now? Now, he's telling her everything she'd wanted to know in the first place.

He's also telling her how much everyone wants to meet her.

It's like he's sat down and thought about how to make it up to her. Felicity can't remember the last time someone did something so thoughtful for _her_.

It's earning him major points.

The other thing that's slowly starting to creep in too is the fact that she's starting to remember that before all of this went down? She was halfway in love with him.

Felicity has never considered that when Oliver lied, he lied about who he was intrinsically as well.

There's no doubt in her mind that she _knows_ Oliver Queen.

It's the other, contextual stuff that she didn't know.

And boy is he making that up in spades.

Felicity's not really mad, anymore. It's hard to stay mad at someone who's trying to make it up to her and doing such a good job.

But her problems now become this.

She's not mad at Oliver, anymore. Not really. So…how does she tell Oliver she's not mad without having to admit that she _may_ have blown this slightly out of proportion?

Only slightly though.

She doesn't want him to get the impression that he can do this again.

The lights flickering on surprise her and Felicity blinks as she realizes she's now staring into Oliver's blue eyes and he's quirking an eyebrow at her in question.

At first, she thinks about looking away and then she shrugs her shoulders and offers him what she knows is a shy smile.

He looks surprised.

Then he smiles back.

Felicity sighs.

Yep, she's so not mad at him anymore.

* * *

Felicity runs into him at John Diggle's coffee shop the next day.

It takes her maybe a split second to decide she's going to tell him she's not mad anymore. Squaring her shoulders, she sort of marches up to him and opens her mouth.

Only to be interrupted by John Diggle. "Morning Felicity. Usual?"

Oliver turns around to look down at her and that's pretty much all it takes for Felicity to completely lose her nerve.

"Yes, thank you. Hi Oliver." She says, offering him another smile and he smiles back.

"Morning Felicity." Oliver says and carefully hands John Diggle a cup. Felicity realizes with a start that he's holding a red pen and there's fresh writing on the coffee cup. "So, I have to tell you that Sara's looking forward to seeing you again and now that she's told Laurel? You can prepare yourself for drinks with them."

Felicity stares.

"Huh?"

"Sara and Laurel are friends of mine from high school. Laurel's marrying my best friend and Sara's been one of my closest friends for a long time. They've been in my life for a long time and are ready for some new blood." Oliver takes the coffee John Diggle has whipped up and smiles down at her. "They told me I should tell you everything. From the beginning. I'll see you later."

Oliver hands her the coffee and leans down to press a kiss to her cheek. Felicity freezes at the scratchy quality of it, flushing as she remembers what it's like to be kissed by him.

Oliver walks out and Felicity turns to stare at John Diggle.

"To be accurate, I told him to tell you from the beginning. He's just more scared of them than me." He tells her and Felicity nods, not quite understanding what just happened.

Looking down at her coffee cup, Felicity raises it to see what Oliver's written this time.

_Laurel's got a place setting at her wedding ready for you._

Oh.

A wedding.

That's nice.

* * *

Oliver steps into the elevator with her the next day.

Felicity takes a step back and is only slightly impressed by the fact that he only has to look at a guy running for the elevator for him to stop dead as the door closes.

Leaving them completely alone.

Felicity wonders what he's going to say next.

He can't have that much left to tell her, he's told her about his sister, his parents, Laurel and Sara. So what's next?

Felicity is pretty sure Oliver has talked more in the last few days than in the entire time before she found out who he was.

Even more impressively, he's managed to do it while keeping her quiet.

Not that she's going to stay quiet much longer. She's really going to have to tell him that she's not really mad at him, anymore.

Just. Not today, not when they're in an enclosed space and she's got nowhere to go if it comes out of her mouth wrong.

A high possibility when it comes to her, really.

"Tommy." Oliver says quietly and so suddenly, she startles.

"Huh?"

"My best friend's name is Tommy Merlyn. We grew up together and probably had a better than good time when we were growing up. He's my brother. But," his shoulders shrug. "We grew up, he's getting married and I was just starting to wonder when I was going to meet the person that makes me as happy as Laurel makes him. Then you came along."

Felicity actually feels butterflies erupt at his words.

Because oh, wow.

She has to say something now because _that_ is pretty massive. _That_ is certainly enough to make any residual anger take a deep nosedive well below the building they're standing in and disappear.

"Oliver – "

She spins to him, to say well, _something_ when the elevator door dings and he offers her a smile.

"This is my floor. I'll talk to you later Felicity."

He then steps out of the elevator, leaving her with a hand raised and no idea what she's supposed to say.

Because how can she top that? There's no way to top what he's just said to her. She's going to have to come up with something a hell of a lot better than, 'I'm not mad, anymore.'

Oh, god.

The pressure.

* * *

The coffee sitting on her desk the next morning makes her smile.

Lifting it, Felicity takes a fortifying sip before reading what Oliver's written, wondering if it's going to be anything as massive as what he'd said to her yesterday.

It's not.

But it still makes her blush.

_You're the most beautiful woman I know._

Taking another sip, Felicity takes a breath and then purposefully picks up a folder and marches towards the elevator.

She's going to see Oliver.

This time when she walks out of the elevator, Oliver's executive assistant doesn't so much as blink.

Felicity has a feeling that she made an impression last time.

As confidently as possible, she marches into his office and sees that Oliver is sitting at his desk, reading through paperwork.

She thinks the paperwork may be in Russian, but she's not sure.

It doesn't really matter, either.

"Felicity – " He says in surprise and perhaps a little pleasure.

Felicity doesn't give him time to get anything else out. She walks right up to him and kisses him.

Briefly, she's thankful that Oliver's so tall otherwise bending over to kiss him would be really uncomfortable.

But it's not and Felicity forgets to think as Oliver's mouth opens under hers and his hand rises to push through her hair.

One kiss turns into two and then slides into three, their mouths never quite separating and their tongues tangling and teasing.

Felicity's halfway in his lap before she remembers that they're in his office and that he probably has meetings and she, well, she didn't come up to his office to make out with him.

But now that she knows she can, she may have to make it a weekly thing, maybe even a daily thing.

She's _really_ missed kissing Oliver.

Pulling back, she awkwardly slides from his lap and stands up, straightening her skirt as she does so.

"Hi." He says, looking at her intently.

Felicity's pretty sure she's bright red and she coughs a little, running a hand through her hair because, well, she just bets it looks like Oliver's had his hand all through it.

Which he has but that's not the point.

"Can you come over to my place tonight? Please? I, ah, I think it's time we talked." She asks, nervously, unsure how he'll react to her request.

He's got to know he's not in that much trouble now. They've just made out.

Oliver stares at her unerringly and Felicity fights the urge to fidget before he nods his head.

"Sure. I'll come around at about seven."

Felicity nods once.

"Sevens good. I'll see you tonight."

Felicity walks out of his office and determinedly doesn't look at his executive assistant. Once she steps into the elevator, however, her shoulders slump and she takes a big breath.

Seven o'clock seems like an eternity away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Who's excited for the next chapter? 'Cause I am! It should be fun to write about Felicity trying to tell Oliver she's not mad anymore. In her apartment. At night. ;) no, just kidding. I have no idea how it's going to go. I think I might aim to have this rounded up in five. I like the idea of five chapters. What do you all think? Anyway, I hope you enjoyed and I will hopefully have the other one up soon!
> 
> As always, reviews make any authors day, so please, take some time and leave one!


	4. The Talk

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They're supposed to talk. Except, apparently, Oliver doesn't want to talk anymore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! So, new chapter, I sincerely hope it's up to standard. This chapter did not go the way I expected, I will be totally honest. In any case, you may or may not like this, but I hope you do! So, it's not exactly what you might expect. It's actually a lot of Felicity just because I feel like we were expecting that.
> 
> Anyway, please enjoy! Next chapter will hopefully be up next week sometime! It depends. I am in the middle of exams. 
> 
> Enjoy!

Felicity cooks.

She then throws it out.

Because giving Oliver food poisoning would be a really bad way to start this whole talking thing.

Felicity isn't even sure _why_ she cooked in the first place. It was like, as soon as she got home to her apartment, she'd panicked and thought 'homemade meal, that's a good idea!'

Which it wasn't.

As evidenced by both her trashcan and the fact that her kitchen now holds the aroma of burned garlic. It's a refined smell, really, one that requires the most discerning palate. Which basically means that this is most definitely _not_ the first time she's burned garlic while cooking.

It most likely won't be the last either.

Felicity's always found it slightly ironic that she, with the mathematical mind and ability to understand logical order, struggles with a recipe.

Seriously, recipes send her into a spin because no matter what she does, she gives people food poisoning.

Her lack of ability to cook isn't even a metaphor for her life.

She just sucks at cooking.

In any case, her attempt at dinner wasted exactly an hour and a half and that's good. 'Cause she's spent so much time cooking an inedible dinner that she's really only left herself a half hour to overthink Oliver coming.

Which, to be honest, is still plenty of time for her to overthink Oliver coming over.

Felicity honestly has no idea how this is going to go because she's really only sure of one thing, that she's not mad at Oliver anymore.

To be fair, it's a pretty big thing to be sure of but she doesn't know how to tell him that.

Not that she thinks she has to tell him, she attacked with her mouth earlier and that probably gave it away.

But she still has to say the words.

She's read somewhere that telling people how you feel is a good thing.

So, she's going to tell Oliver that she's not mad anymore.

She's _not_ going to tell him that she's halfway in love with him.

_That_ she'll save for a later date.

Felicity doesn't want to freak him out, after all. Besides, she's got a feeling that this conversation coming is going to be a pretty heavy one.

A heavy conversation that requires her to be wearing something other than her old shorts and a sports bra-crop top thing. Whatever it is, she's supported. Supported or not, she still needs to be wearing something different.

Like a shirt, for example. Preferably one that doesn't smell like failed Bolognese sauce.

Oh God, she needs to get changed.

What is she going to _wear_?

She _has_ to have an outfit that is perfect for heavy conversations and I'm-not-mad revelations. She just has to find it first.

Standing up from her seat on her couch, Felicity takes exactly one step toward her bedroom when someone knocks one her door.

She freezes.

Oliver's here. Oliver is standing on the other side of her door, knocking.

And she's not wearing a _shirt_.

He knocks again.

Frantically, Felicity looks around her living room; half expecting a shirt to magically appear.

This does not happen.

"Felicity?" Oliver asks; his voice muffled by the door.

"Um. Just a second!" Felicity calls, looking around her living room again, searching for the magically appearing shirt.

Felicity knows that she should probably _move_. In fact, moving would be the best thing for her to do.

Unfortunately, her legs appear to not be working.

She can neither move to find a shirt nor move to answer the door. Not that she'd answer her door without a shirt on.

That would be weird.

However, the decision is taken out of her hands.

Because she left her door unlocked when she got home and Oliver – being of sound mind and logical thought – tests the handle and finds that it opens the door.

Funny how door handles can do that.

He appears to be affected by her shirt problem the second he sees her, as well. Stopping dead in the doorway and staring at her.

His eyes darken and Felicity swallows a little at the heat in them and then blushes as her body responds in kind.

His t-shirt is really tight, okay? It's tight and his jeans fit him really well and…he's _hot_ and she hasn't been alone with him in over three weeks.

What happens next is totally not her fault.

Even though she is the reason they haven't been alone in over three weeks.

It's still _not_ her fault.

Oliver shuts the door, flicking the lock and dropping his keys on her table next to the door. He kicks off his boots and Felicity feels her breath quicken as he strides over to her, pulling his shirt up and over his head and dropping it as he walks.

Felicity's mouth goes dry at the expanse of smooth, hard muscle that comes into view as he does so.

Seriously, his six packs have six packs.

How she has someone this hot interested in her is beyond reason.

"We'll talk later." He says as he moves towards her, his voice low and gravelly and so hot that Felicity shivers.

She doesn't even have time to reply because Oliver wraps an arm around her waist and yanks her to her toes, his mouth coming down on hers hot and hard.

Talking later is good.

Kissing now is better than good.

* * *

They don't actually make it to her bedroom.

Felicity wakes up to find she's sprawled over Oliver on the floor of her living room. At some point, he's pulled a blanket over them and is lying flat on his back, his hand idly running up and down her back.

She's quite enjoying this.

She never thought she'd like being stroked like a cat but it's quite nice.

Oliver pauses for a second and Felicity groans when he does. Shifting her head to look up at him, Felicity is pretty sure she'll feel mortified about the fact that she pouts, later.

"Don't stop. That was nice." She says, her voice sound throaty.

She's _so_ not going to think about why her voice is throaty, right now.

"You're awake." He says and Felicity would say something like 'thank you, Captain Obvious' but she's too content.

"Mmm. I am. So are you." She says, stroking her hand up his stomach.

She has a thing for his abs, apparently.

Surprise, surprise.

Felicity vaguely remembers why Oliver's in her apartment in the first place as his hand captures hers and their fingers entwine.

Unfortunately, she forgets it when he leans down and kisses her again.

That's okay; she'll remember it later.

* * *

So it's really not okay.

The next day, Felicity finds herself sitting in her cubicle trying to figure out how they managed to _not_ talk.

For an entire _night_.

Seriously.

They didn't talk about _anything_.

Well, technically, that's not true. They talked about dinner and her failure as a cook, thanks to Oliver's overly sensitive nose. They discussed the logistics of her small shower and her lack of a shirt.

They even discussed moving from the floor to her room.

They did _not_ discuss anything related to what had been happening for the last few weeks.

If Felicity were a smart cookie, she'd think that Oliver was avoiding having 'the talk'. He had, after all, avoided it three times last night and once this morning.

Very skillfully, Felicity might add.

Because Felicity is a smart cookie, she _knows_ Oliver was avoiding the 'talk'.

What she can't figure out is _why_ he would be avoiding it.

It's not like she's going to end the relationship or chew him out for what he did or didn't tell her.

They're _way_ past that point now.

Anyway, if last night was an indication, Felicity thinks Oliver should know that she's not going to break up with him.

She's not even going to chew him out.

Really, Felicity now just wants to talk to him. She wants to sit down and have a conversation about the fact that they have to figure out where they're going to go from here now, you know, that she's not mad at him anymore.

She still has to tell him that, though.

Also, she now wants a cookie.

Flicking a glance at her computer screen, Felicity decides that it's close enough to her lunch hour to go and get a cookie and a coffee.

Maybe she'll ask John Diggle for his advice.

Without mentioning Oliver's avoidance technique.

'Cause that could be awkward.

He also wouldn't give her a cookie if she told him.

* * *

Felicity doesn't get a chance to talk to John Diggle.

Or even get a cookie.

Because Oliver turns out to be walking out her managers office as she ambles towards the elevator.

When she spots him, Felicity opens her mouth to greet him and he shakes his head discreetly as he pressed the elevator up button.

Furrowing her brow, Felicity stays quiet as they step into the elevator together and the doors slide shut.

"Are you on your lunch hour?" He asks quietly when they're alone.

Felicity starts to nod and then thinks better of it. Maybe she should say something instead. Preferably about the fact that they didn't talk last night.

"I'm not mad at you anymore, Oliver."

Felicity stops and makes a face because that wasn't exactly what she planned to say. She was actually thinking about lunch and asking him to lunch.

To talk.

About the fact that she's not mad at him.

Which is how their 'talk' should start but instead, she's blurted it out in an elevator after Oliver had spent an entire night with the intention of not talking.

Excellent. She couldn't have chosen a better time to blurt that out.

Still a bit confused as to why her brain decided now was the time to blurt it out, Felicity looks at Oliver only to find him staring at her with an entirely too emotional look on his face.

Well, as emotional as Oliver's face can get. Which isn't a lot but Felicity knows him well enough now to understand that the raw look in his eyes amounts to the fact that he didn't think she would ever say that.

It also gives Felicity about fifteen seconds before Oliver moves swiftly towards her, framing her face with his hands and kissing her like, well, like he hasn't kissed her in forever.

Which isn't true 'cause he kissed her quite thoroughly this morning before he left for work.

In any case, Felicity has about fifteen more seconds to realize that she and Oliver probably aren't going to have a 'The Talk' right now before she sinks into what Oliver's kiss can do to her.

Which is totally eliminate the ability to think.

Wrapping her arms firmly around him, Felicity decides that it's alright, they'll talk later.

After the elevator ride.

* * *

They still haven't talked.

Felicity has got _no_ idea how to get Oliver to talk now either.

It's confusing.

'Cause didn't he just spend the last week talking to her about his family?

Maybe she imagined the whole thing and Oliver wasn't actually talking to her, he was just trying to get her into bed.

Not that he had to try very hard.

All it had taken for her was for him to pull off his shirt and, well, kiss her.

She's _so_ easy when it comes to Oliver.

Because that's all he's been doing for the last week. Felicity can't figure it out. Every time she attempts to bring up the fact that they do have to talk with him, he does something really tricky.

Like kiss her. Or take off his shirt. Or give her coffee. Or, recently, Oliver's discovered that the curve of her neck is ticklish and he spends a lot of time nuzzling it.

It's infuriating!

She really just wants to talk to him and clear the air and tell him that they can move on from here because there is no way Felicity's letting him go now.

No way.

But she can't tell him any of that because he keeps kissing her.

Shaking her head, Felicity begins to warm down on from her run on the treadmill and tries to catch her breath.

She has to admit, there's one good thing coming out Oliver's unwillingness to talk to her.

She's been able to go back to the gym.

Exercise has turned out to be a good way to a figure out what to do about Oliver's complete about-face.

Well, his talking about-face, anyway.

Blowing out a breath, Felicity steps off the treadmill and turns around only to jump in shock when Sara Lance turns out to be standing right behind her.

"Hi, Felicity." Sara says with a grin.

Felicity stares at her.

"Do you and Oliver practice terrifying me? Seriously, do you have meetings to discuss how to frighten unsuspecting members of the public at the gym? 'Cause if you do, you talk to him more than I do at the moment." Felicity sort of half snaps at the blond and Sara looks a bit shocked.

Felicity doesn't blame her.

Apparently, this whole not talking thing has annoyed her.

Who knew?

"I hate to ask an obvious question, but are you alright? I thought you and Ollie were back to normal? Or not normal because you actually know who he is now?" Sara asks curiously and Felicity laughs sourly.

Oh, wow, really annoyed, apparently. She really needs to start getting in touch with her emotions.

Maybe then she'd recognize when she'd gone from not mad to annoyed.

"Oh yep, totally back to normal. Totally. If you count the fact that he's avoiding actually talking about what happened like the plague. Seriously, I've had more action in the last week than I have my whole life and…and you really didn't need to know that. Sorry." Felicity says when Sara's eyebrows rise a little.

The blond actually looks concerned, like she's a tiny bit worried about where this is going.

Good. Someone ought to be.

Still, Felicity doesn't exactly expect what happens next.

"You know, I know someone who probably has a good idea on what's going on. I'm going to meet them now, would you like to come? You look like you could use some girl talk."

Felicity stares at Sara because that's just…random.

But she doesn't have to think about it too hard because girl talk? She could totally use some of that.

And girl talk with people who actually know about Oliver?

Twenty times better.

"Sure."

* * *

So the person that Felicity meets turns, out to be Laurel Lance and Laurel Lance?

Scares the crap out of her.

The woman is sharp.

Felicity walks into John Diggle's coffee shop with Sara and can't help but feel inadequate when Sara heads directly for the brunette sitting at a corner table, scrolling through her phone and looking impeccably groomed in a tailored suit.

Felicity wishes she'd had time to wipe the sweat from her forehead.

She hasn't so, when Laurel stands up to smile at her sharply, she feels a bit self-conscious right up until Sara introduces her.

Then Laurel's whole face seems to transform.

Not becoming softer or anything, her face is too angular to be genuinely soft but it does become less sharp.

"You're Felicity? It's so nice to meet you! I've heard a lot about you."

Felicity finds Laurel's enthusiasm disconcerting.

So she says the first thing that comes to mind.

"I really wish everyone would stop saying that."

Which is _not_ the right thing to say to someone she's just met. Especially someone who scares the crap out of her because, well, Felicity doesn't actually want to give the person that scares the crap out of her _reason_ to scare her.

Thankfully, Laurel laughs.

Sara laughs too and Felicity feels her shoulders drop in relief at her almost gaffe.

Glancing at the counter, Felicity sees John Diggle raise his eyebrows and pointedly ignores him. It's still enough for her to ask Sara to go up and order.

She's not explaining this to John Diggle, okay?

Still, he does come over to deliver their coffee and this time? This time, the note on her coffee cup is from him and not from Oliver.

_Seriously? I should smack you both. You need to talk._

Talk is underlined. Twice.

Felicity feels like this might be enough to go up and say to him 'you know what? I tried. He's just decided that he doesn't want to talk. So he's distracting me. So _you_ talk to him.'

Actually, that's probably not the best idea.

John Diggle has indicated he's not all that thrilled at the idea of being a go-between for her and Oliver again.

So, she doesn't tell John Diggle. She just tells the Lance sisters. Who seem to take great delight in her tale.

Sara more than Laurel.

Right up until she tells them that now she and Oliver have been through this, he doesn't want to talk to her.

Sara laughs harder at her revelation that Oliver's avoiding talking that Felicity nearly misses Laurel's almost resigned concern.

"Sorry, sorry. I just – he's such an idiot." Sara sputters, taking a sip of her coffee to cover her coughs.

"Felicity." Laurel says, rather firmly actually. "He's over thought this. That's all. He's avoiding talking about it because – "

"He's emotionally unaware and in the past three weeks, you've made him not only think about them but you want to talk about them. Of course he's going to over think it." Sara interrupts her and Laurel glares at her. "What? Like you don't agree with me. Oliver is about as in touch with his emotions as a rock."

Felicity stares at both of them. Because, well, huh?

"How has Oliver over thought his emotions? _When_ did he over think them? He had about three hours between when I said I wanted to talk and when he showed up at my apartment. And he was reading Russian, so unless he over thought in Russian I don't know how he over thought anything. How do you over think in Russian? Can you even over think in Russian? Is that possible? If you're not Russian, I mean?" Felicity pauses for a second and then sighs. "I over think things. That's my job. Obviously."

Sara and Laurel blink at her and Felicity can't help but stare back at them. One day, she'll realize most people aren't programmed to accept her babbles as part of her every day life. Especially people she's just met.

"Wow. You guys really need to talk." Sara says with a low whistle.

Laurel gives her sister a look. Felicity can't interpret it. But she wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of it.

"Look, Felicity, my advice? Force him to talk. Do something that can't distract him and force him to talk. Oliver gets like this when he thinks that whatever you're going to talk about is not going to go well and he might get hurt. So, he's avoiding talking about it." Laurel says seriously and Felicity nods.

"Which means he's moving up on the emotional maturity scale. Last time, he took off to Russia because his emotions told him to runaway from women who made him feel."

Felicity glances at Sara, wondering what one earth she's talking about and Laurel just glares at her again.

Deciding she doesn't want to know, Felicity nods.

"Okay, okay. I can do that. I can distract him long enough to talk to him."

At least, Felicity thinks she can.

Maybe.

* * *

Felicity does the only logical thing after her talk with Laurel and Sara.

First, she sends Oliver a message to ask him to come over.

Second, she leaves work early and goes home.

Third, she shifts all her furniture so it divides her living room.

While she shifts the furniture around, she plans their conversation in her head. Because every conversation that has ever been planned ahead of time goes to exactly to script.

Especially conversations involving her.

_Not._

Fourth, she decides that she will never move her couch on her own again because oh, dear lord was it heavy.

Fifth, she dresses like a nun.

Actually, no, that's not true.

She doesn't dress like a nun; she dresses in the most shapeless clothes she owns which are actually yoga pants and the weirdest looking shirt she's ever owned. Felicity isn't sure what color it was but it's now this weirdly shaded white-grey and she has no idea why she actually has this shirt but she's grateful because it's enormous on her.

So she wears that.

She also pulls her hair up into a bun, scrubs any trace of make-up on her face and spends a lot of time pulling at her shirt just to make sure it doesn't cling to her figure.

Felicity has figured distracting him would require her to not look somewhat attractive and so that's what she's trying to do.

The front line of furniture is just a precaution.

Actually, it's not. It's her first line of defense against Oliver because she had absolutely no other idea that could possibly distract him.

A line of furniture seemed like a good distraction.

It's certainly eye catching enough to be a point of conversation.

Felicity is still eyeing it when she hears Oliver knock on the door. Letting out a frightened squeak, Felicity realizes she's on the wrong side of the line of furniture.

So she does the only thing she can think of, she dives over the furniture and totally misjudges the width of her couch.

Which means she screams because she's jumped onto the floor.

Excellent.

The scream has Oliver barreling through her door in what Felicity can only assume is panic. She assumes it's panic but she can't actually see his face cause she's become well acquainted with her floor.

In any case, Felicity learns two things in twenty seconds, one she _really_ needs to remember to start locking her door and two, she probably needs to clean her floor.

Blowing out a breath as she sits up, Felicity stares at Oliver who's staring at the line of furniture in her living room with his brow furrowed.

Oooh, and he's also bought food.

"Felicity? What are you doing?" Oliver asks.

"On the floor or in general? 'Cause I jumped over the couch, which is why I'm on the floor and in general? I still don't know. Living?"

Interestingly, Oliver doesn't roll his eyes. He just flicks them upward in, well, Felicity isn't sure if its exasperation, amusement or strength.

She's going with amusement.

Felicity doesn't exactly want Oliver to feel like he needs strength when dealing with her. That should only come after they've been together for a long time.

Like, years long.

"On the floor and why is your furniture in the middle of the room?" Oliver asks and Felicity pushes up from the floor.

Oliver's eyebrows rise as his eyes travel over her outfit and Felicity is pleased to see that her outfit is working.

At least, she thinks it's working, he hasn't taken off his shirt, so that's a good sign.

So she moves onto the first part of her planned talk with Oliver and puts her hands on her hips.

"Because _we_ are going to talk."

Felicity announces it like it's the most obvious thing in the world.

Apparently, though, it isn't because Oliver response stumps her with his totally non-scripted response.

"Why?"

Felicity stares at him,

Damn it, why hadn't she thought he'd reply with that?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, that's that. What do you think is going to happen? I will say this, they are so much fun to write!
> 
> In any case, leave a stressed student something to smile about after her exam? Pretty please?
> 
> Next chapter will be up soon!


	5. The Freak Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They talk. Sort of. Except Oliver drops a bombshell and Felicity might, just might, freak out at the end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hellooooo! So, I'm back with not only a new chapter but also an update on where this story is going. Which is to a sixth, possibly seventh chapter. Mostly likely sixth though, simply because I like even numbers. So a seventh chapter would mean I'd need an eighth. Anyway, that's my news plus exams are over so I actually can dedicate some time to writing this and the next installment of Four Times - which will be consolidated into a multi-chapter story when I finish the next one. Just in case anyone's is interested! And I've got another chapter of Some People Care Too Much. So, that's exciting.
> 
> Also, OH MY FREAKING GOD! The response to this story has pretty much blown my mind. Seriously, opening up my inbox after posting is overwhelming. I don't think my inbox has ever been so full! Seriously, you're all amazing and the fact that you take the time to write such kind, encouraging words is beyond anything I ever imagined especially because you have all taken the time to do it. It's so amazing and I can't thank you all enough! And I haven't even finished the story! But still, THANK YOU!
> 
> As always, enjoy this and remember, another chapter to come!

Oliver is staring at her like she's grown another head.

Which, perhaps, is slightly justified because, well, Felicity's staring at Oliver like he's had a brain transplant.

So, they're both looking at each other like there's something seriously wrong.

Which there is. Because, apparently, they're both on a totally different wavelength concerning any sort of need for them to talk to each other.

But, clearly, Oliver's the one with the more series mental defect.

Not knowing why they need to talk is _way_ more serious then the defense mechanisms she's come up with.

Including the rearrangement of her living room.

" _Why_ do we need to talk? Seriously, Oliver? Are you serious? Do you really think that we don't have to talk about this?" Felicity asks and you know what? She's glad no-ones recording this because Felicity has no wish to hear how shrill her voice _may_ have become.

Only may though.

Oliver doesn't wince, so it maybe wasn't that bad.

Right up until Oliver takes a step forward and she jumps backwards from the couch.

"NO!" He winces then, possibly because her voice has hit super shrill with that one loud shriek. "No, no. You stay on that side of the front line and I'll stay on this side, okay? Okay." Felicity holds up her hands and takes another giant step backwards.

Mostly because Oliver takes a step forward. Towards the front line and furrows his brow and Felicity is pretty sure that he's about to take his shirt off.

So she does the logical thing, she squeezes her eyes shut and slaps her hands over them.

Because standing in the middle of her living, behind the front line of furniture with her boyfriend on the other side, wearing clothes that make her look like she's gotten dressed in the dark, covering her eyes is _totally_ the way this talk was planned.

_Totally._

Not.

"Felicity? Why are you covering your eyes?"

Also, her boyfriend now sounds confused.

_Could_ she have screwed this up more? Seriously.

"Oliver, I swear to you, if you ask me why one more time, I'm going to hit you."

Felicity has to admit that there's a high possibility that her threat isn't all that threatening because her hands are still covering her eyes.

"I've only asked you why twice." Oliver points out, quite rationally he probably thinks.

Felicity does _not_ appreciate his rationality.

"That's not the point, Oliver! The point is I've been trying to talk to you for like a week and you keep taking your shirt off! Which is really distracting and I can't think when you're shirtless and _you_ have been using that against me." Felicity says indignantly.

She can't see it but Felicity's pretty sure that Oliver throws his hands up in the air.

"Felicity – " He starts.

"Nope. Uh-uh. Talking, we need to talk. With shirts on and behind furniture and _separate_ because if you touch me and you're shirtless we're not going to talk and we need to talk. Right?"

Felicity hears Oliver sigh. "Felicity, open your eyes. Please, I can't talk to you if you're covering half your face."

Felicity considers his request for about five seconds.

"No. You're probably not wearing a shirt."

"Felicity, I'm wearing a shirt."

"I still don't believe you."

"Felicity, I promise you I'm wearing a shirt."

"Oliver, I can promise you that I don't believe you."

Silence follows her pronouncement and, okay; it's making her a bit itchy that she can't actually _see_ Oliver and his expression but you know what? He's probably not wearing a shirt and they can't have sex again just because he doesn't want to talk.

Felicity wonders if there's something wrong with the fact that all Oliver has to do is take off his shirt and she jumps him.

Or he jumps her.

Or maybe there's nothing wrong with that because, hello, her boyfriends is _really_ hot.

The silence stretches out to a point where Felicity thinks that maybe she should uncover her eyes because this silence is _uncomfortable_.

Then, Oliver speaks.

"Fine. I'll see you tomorrow."

Felicity drops her hands from her eyes when she hears her front door shut.

Oops.

Oliver left.

Felicity's pretty sure she made him mad. Which _probably_ wasn't the best thing to do when she was trying to have a serious talk with him.

She probably shouldn't have covered her eyes, either.

So, yep, that whole thing was definitely an _oops._

Damn it.

Looking around her apartment, Felicity heaves a surprisingly loud sigh and puts her hands on her hips.

So, that didn't go as well as she planned.

Actually, it didn't go to any plan she could have ever envisioned. So, no it didn't go to plan because Felicity is pretty sure that if she'd had a plan even remotely similar to what just happened she probably wouldn't have argued about Oliver being shirtless.

She probably would have had vision for it too.

But she hadn't, so it hadn't gone to plan, they haven't talked and Oliver's mad.

And, damn it, her furniture's still dividing her living room.

* * *

"You've made it _worse_."

Felicity stops dead at John Diggle's loud accusation.

She's not the only one to stop dead either.

Three customers stare at John Diggle like he's grown a second head. Felicity thinks that look may be becoming an epidemic because seriously? She and Oliver were using the exact same look last night.

She then thinks about what John Diggle has just said to her.

"I did not! He made it worse when he wouldn't talk to me!"

John Diggle points at her accusingly. "And then you made it worse by not looking at him when he was willing to!"

Felicity draws herself up to her full height, which, really, isn't that tall because she's short.

John Diggle raises an eyebrow, a sardonic look on his face.

Felicity actually feels her height when he does that.

Which is not fair.

She opens her mouth to respond and John Diggle raises his hand when she does so. It's a silencing, very commanding gesture and Felicity snaps her mouth shut.

It's like a magic trick.

It's amazing.

"I don't care. Fix it. You're not getting coffee until you do."

Felicity stares at him.

The _horror_.

That is so not fair!

"You can't ban me from coffee! That's, that's, that's… _mean_." Felicity stutters in outrage, blank horror keeping her from coming up with a better description for John Diggle's threat.

"Oh, I can and I will. Go and talk to him or you're never getting a latte from my coffee shop again."

John Diggle folds his arms and his look basically tells Felicity that it's John Diggle's way or nothing at all.

Felicity glares at him. This is blackmail. Blackmail at it's absolute best. But she's not going to succumb; it's not her fault that it's worse. _Oliver_ could have kept his shirt on the first time around and…damn it.

It's her fault and she's totally going to give in.

He's withholding _coffee_.

Besides, she should probably see if Oliver's mad at her or not.

"Ugh. Fine." Felicity throws her hands in the air and takes a step towards the door before spinning back around, jabbing her finger in John Diggle's direction. "But it better be the best coffee I've ever had."

John Diggle doesn't even reply. He just raises an eyebrow.

Damn it, that's twenty times more effective than actual words.

It's so unfair how much he can convey in a look when she doesn't know enough words to convey her contempt.

So unfair.

She has to go and talk to Oliver now.

* * *

Felicity marches into Oliver's office a little before his lunch hour.

She's not in the best of moods.

Mostly because she's been banned from coffee and how unfair is that? It's literally the best threat ever because John Diggle has to know she's so accustomed to how good his coffee is that any other coffee will never be good enough.

It's a double whammy of a threat.

So, there's that.

The there's the fact that Oliver is ignoring her texts.

All twenty-five hundred of them.

Seriously.

It takes perseverance to ignore that many texts in the space of a couple of hours and it's around the twenty-fifth hundred one that Felicity really, truly realizes that she might have upset Oliver the night before.

Just might of, though.

It's that or his phone's broken.

Felicity highly doubts that, though.

Oliver's executive assistant isn't at her desk when she walks into Oliver's office and Felicity's grateful.

She doesn't feel like politely asking to see Oliver.

Or smiling.

So, she gives a cursory knock on his door and then walks into his office.

Oliver is sitting at his desk, staring blindly at his computer screen. Felicity thinks that he might be pretending to work except that in order for it to look legitimate, his screen needs to be turned on.

Felicity sighs.

The things she needs to teach him.

Oliver's attention snaps to her at the sound of her sigh and his brow furrows. "Felicity? What are you doing here?"

Felicity looks at him.

Then, she speaks.

"John Diggle won't give me coffee until I make up with you. Except I don't know how to make up with you. 'Cause this is stupid and I'm _so_ sorry about last night it's just that Laurel and Sara told me I needed to trap you into talking 'cause you have the emotions of a rock. But I didn't mean for it to be so weird and, and, and I haven't had coffee today! I just want coffee." Felicity pretty much wails the last part.

She then bursts into tears.

Oliver moves so quickly, Felicity doesn't actually see him move.

But that's probably got more to do with the fact that there are tears clouding her vision than any super speed on his part.

It doesn't really matter though because he's then wrapping his arms around her tightly and Felicity's burying her face in his chest and her glasses are digging into the bridge of her nose.

And she's _crying._

So, apparently, the last few weeks have finally taken their toll on her.

Great.

* * *

Felicity wakes up a little later curled up against Oliver.

They're sitting on the couch in his office and she's sprawled across his lap, snuggled into his shoulder.

Oliver's holding paperwork in one hand, his other arm wrapped securely around her back, his hand resting loosely on her stomach.

Felicity bets that she looks like hell.

She didn't put waterproof mascara on this morning, so she probably has raccoon eyes on top of them being swollen and red from crying.

Excellent.

"Hi." Felicity whispers, her voice scratchy.

It's been a while since she's cried. She'd forgotten how harsh it is on her throat. Those sobs really do their absolute best to make it sore.

Oliver's hand tightens around her middle and he lowers his paperwork, looking down at her with this disarmingly soft look on his face.

"Hi." He presses a kiss to her forehead. "Feel better?"

Felicity ponders his question for a few seconds.

"I don't know. I haven't had coffee." She replies with a small smile, shifting slightly and settling against him more comfortably.

Oliver kisses her forehead again. "How about we take the afternoon off, I get you a coffee and then we have a talk wearing all our clothes?"

Felicity lets out a rusty laugh.

Mostly because Oliver says it with an impressively straight face and only a tiny inflection of humor in his voice.

It sounds like such a good idea. She might even get to have a nap.

She then groans.

"I can't, I can't take a half day off work. I wish I could. That sounds amazing."

Oliver actually chuckles at her words.

"Felicity, babe, you seem to forget," Oliver leans down to whisper in her ear. "I have an in with the boss."

Oh.

He does to.

How lucky is she that he doesn't manage the gym like she first thought?

* * *

Oliver gets her coffee as promised.

He also gets her a muffin and he doesn't make her go into the coffee shop either and see John Diggle.

They're now sitting in _his_ apartment and Felicity's cradling her triple shot latte and curled up on the couch, eyeing Oliver who's sitting opposite her, impassively.

Oliver's apartment is nice if a little impersonal. Felicity isn't sure what she expected apart from, you know, the fact that it's a penthouse and it's in pretty much the best part of Starling City.

It's still nice with a black and white theme and a big screen television that Felicity is pretty sure is a requirement for a guy his age. It's not homey or comforting or even cramped – she's pretty sure her apartment could fit into his open plan living area.

At the very least, there's no way she would have enough furniture to make a front line of defense in Oliver's living room.

And…she says as much to him.

Because hey, she's cried on him today, she made him mad last night, so why not make a weird comment about lines of defensive furniture as well?

"I wasn't mad at you, Felicity." Oliver says with a chuckle and Felicity groans.

"You know what? One day I'm actually going to realize I'm talking _when_ I'm talking. Because I tell you things I don't actually mean to when I do that thing I just did. It's annoying." Felicity sighs, raising her coffee to her mouth and taking a sip.

One day, she'll be really worried about the fact that she relies so much on coffee.

Today is not that day, though.

Although it should be because John Diggle blackmailed her with the love she has for coffee.

But, still, today is not that day.

"I hope you don't. What did you want to talk about?" Oliver asks, watching her with this look on his face.

It's this soft look Felicity's noticed he gives her whenever he thinks she's being more adorable than usual.

Actually, she's pretty sure she gets it just because she's breathing sometimes.

But it's mostly when he thinks she's being more adorable than usual.

Felicity sighs a little at his question when she thinks about he asked.

"Seriously? Oliver, take your pick. Um, the weirdness of you not telling me you're last name, the fact that I repeatedly called you stupid to your face because I didn't know your last name; your friends all knowing about me. Making John Diggle pass notes like a teenager." Felicity says, fascinated by the way Oliver's eyebrows rise higher and higher as she lists off what they need to talk about. She then snaps her fingers. "Oh and the fact that you avoided talking to me for, like, a week after I told you I wasn't mad. By taking off your shirt. Which is why I wasn't looking at you last night."

Oliver goes quiet again.

He looks like he's considering something so Felicity takes another sip of her coffee and notes that her coffee has just hit under halfway.

Maybe she can convince Oliver to go and get her another one.

Later, after they've talked.

"Or you could accept my apology and come with me to a wedding?"

Felicity pauses with her coffee halfway down and she stares at him.

"You worry me." She says and when Oliver ducks his head a little, Felicity feels like he's hiding a smile. "Honestly, Oliver, you worry me. Do you seriously not want to explain anything you did when I'm actually willing listening to what you have to say?"

Oliver blows out a breath, leaning back against the couch and closing his eyes.

"You ran into me, I thought you were pretty. We spent time together, I liked you. I didn't tell you who I was because I liked you and I didn't want to freak you out – "

"I would _not_ have freaked out!" Felicity interrupts him indignantly and Oliver just gives her this look.

The look is pretty much the direct opposite of the soft one of before.

It also tells her that he knows she would have freaked out.

"Freaking out would have been better than mad." She tells him rather petulantly.

"That depends where you're standing." He tells her. "Felicity, I told you everything you wanted to know. I wouldn't have done that if I wasn't falling in love with you."

He says it so matter-of-factly that Felicity actually has to take a moment to really _hear_ what Oliver's just said to her.

She then makes a choking noise because Oliver might be right.

Mad is so much better than freaked out.

_So_ much better.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cue Felicity freaking out. I'll be totally honest though, I didn't exactly expect that last part to happen. Or Felicity to cry. It was one of those things where Felicity needed to do something which required Oliver to actually react to her and not what was coming out of her mouth. Crying seemed like a good idea. So, yay! And now, I get the fun chapter of writing Felicity having a massive freak out because, why not? Also, look for the appearance of Oliver's friends in the next chapter! As always, I hope you enjoyed and why not bolster my already good mood by making finishing my exams extra special with a review? See you next chapter!


	6. The Bathroom

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity and Oliver may, perhaps, finally talk. In the bathroom.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to chapter six! Yay, I got it posted. I am so sorry it took so long, I am having serious internet troubles which is frustrating given that I am on break. Anyway, here's the second last chapter to Get Fit (Yes, this will go to seven)! I hope you enjoy.

Felicity locks herself in the bathroom.

It seems like the logical thing to do after Oliver's pronouncement that he was falling in love with her.

She gets why he didn't want to talk now. Honestly, he probably had some clue she was going to react like this to an announcement like that.

Well, Oliver probably wasn't expecting her to lock herself in the bathroom but he might have been expecting her to freak out.

Especially after the month she's had.

Honestly, if she'd known her snap decision to get fit would have ended with her locked in a bathroom after a sort of declaration of love?

Well, she might have rethought the whole get fit thing.

At least, she might have gone to a different gym. Or found another coffee shop or, or, or…Felicity sighs.

She might also not have met Oliver if she hadn't chosen that gym.

Or, at least realistically, she _would_ have met Oliver but she probably wouldn't have given him the time of day because, well, he would have been the stupid VP responsible for the stupid changes made to QC's system.

And she either wouldn't have given him the time of day or she would have said something about how hot doesn't always equal smart.

So, that wouldn't have gone down well.

Who is she kidding though?

There's no way she would have rethought her whole decision to get fit.

If she had, she wouldn't have Oliver.

She also wouldn't be hiding in Oliver's bathroom because of what he's just told her.

Glancing around the bathroom, Felicity wonders if it's possible to leave the bathroom with her dignity in tact.

She then wonders if she can leave the bathroom and convince Oliver that locking herself in the bathroom _isn't_ an example of her freaking out.

Probably not.

But that's okay, Oliver's bathroom is enormous and his bath is probably bigger than her bed, so she has somewhere to sleep. There's water too, so she won't get dehydrated. Food could be an issue, though.

Felicity doubts that Oliver keeps a hidden stash of junk food in his bathroom.

It would be nice if he did but she's seen his body.

There's _no_ way Oliver has midnight binges.

So, food is going to be an issue.

Right up until Oliver knocks on the door.

"Felicity?"

"I am _not_ freaking out!"

Felicity actually covers her mouth in shock as the words burst out of her. She totally had not meant to say that.

She then says something she probably doesn't mean.

Probably meaning that she _does_ mean it, she just thinks she doesn't.

God, no wonder she had a meltdown before.

She's _so_ confused.

"Do _not_ come in, Oliver. I remembered to lock the door."

Oliver goes quiet and it's for long enough that Felicity begins to feel a little bit twitchy. She actually begins to think Oliver just walked away when she hears him sigh loudly.

"How are we going to talk then?"

Felicity almost laughs at that because _please_ like he actually wants to talk at all.

"Talk through the door."

Oliver's quiet for a few seconds less than the last time.

Felicity feels no less twitchy.

"Okay."

Huh.

She didn't think he'd acquiesce.

Shows what she knows about him.

Which was the problem in the first place.

* * *

So, Oliver's bathroom floor is actually quite uncomfortable.

Felicity doesn't know why she thought it was going to be. Bathrooms, even luxurious penthouse bathrooms owned by billionaires, aren't made for people to sit on their lovely stone floors.

Even if they _are_ really lovely stone floors.

On the plus side, Oliver's sitting on the other side of the door and he's actually _talking_ to her.

Well, sort of anyway.

He's spent the last few minutes demanding she reassure him that's she's okay. Actually, it's more he was demanding she tell him she was less freaked out than before.

Which she is.

But Felicity's pretty sure that has more to do with the floor than anything else.

"So, you're okay?"

Felicity sighs loudly. " _Yes_ , Oliver. Honestly, are you really concerned about me locking myself in the bathroom? I've been really consistent in freaking out, being mad and generally just being inconsistent lately. So I don't know why you're worried about me being in the bathroom, if anything, you should be pleased that I'm being so consistent in being inconsistent. Seriously."

Oliver stays silent and Felicity is pretty sure that he's smiling. She can't be sure because she can't see him.

But she's pretty sure that he's smiling.

"If you say so." He says and Felicity has to wonder if he was waiting for her to ramble when he speaks again. "I don't think you've been inconsistent though. You were mad at me, then you weren't and now you're freaked out. You've been pretty consistent in sticking to those reactions."

Felicity snorts. "Thanks. That makes me feel _so_ much better."

"It should. Felicity, I didn't lie to you to hurt you or deceive you. I lied because I liked you." Oliver says, making a weird, resigned sounding noise in the back of his throat.

"Oliver? That's really not a reason. You know what? Why did you even go to Russia in the first place? Why did you come back?"

_Why_ is she even asking about Russia?

What has that got to do with anything?

Actually, it's got everything to do with it.

Felicity decides in a nanosecond that this talk that they're going to have? Well, it's going to be a lot of Oliver explaining his life.

Screw what he _did_.

Felicity's not mad at him anymore, she's pretty much close to forgiving him and you know what? If she's really honest, she understands why Oliver didn't tell her who he was.

She was probably the only girl in Starling City that had no idea who he was when she ran into him.

Well, the only girl Oliver thought was pretty that didn't know who he was.

So, okay, she gets it.

Felicity feels like she'll most likely get it _more_ when they actually go out and she knows who he is.

Anyway, the point is they're going to talk about _all_ the things that Oliver didn't tell her about because she didn't know who he was.

Starting with why he went to Russia.

"Well, uh, I went to Russia because of Laurel."

Felicity freezes at Oliver's honest answer.

Because, excuse him, _what?_

Pushing away from the door, Felicity reaches up and yanks on the door handle.

So, she lied.

The door wasn't locked.

Oliver's clearly surprised by this revelation; Felicity knows this because of the expression on his face when he falls back into the bathroom, only just catching himself from hitting the uncomfortable tiles.

Apparently, Oliver was leaning against the door.

"What do you mean it was because of _Laurel_?"

Oliver stares at her.

* * *

So, apparently, Laurel wasn't just Oliver's high school girlfriend.

Oh and Sarah wasn't just his girlfriends little sister.

"So, let me get this straight, Laurel wanted you guys to move in together and instead of doing _that_ , you hooked up with her sister and took off to Russia the next day? Then broke up with her while you were in Russia because…" Felicity trails off and raises an eyebrow.

"Sara fell in love and decided to make her new relationship work, she had to come clean to Laurel about what happened. So, we broke up." Oliver replies.

"Gee, what a surprise." Felicity mutters sarcastically, pulling her knees closer to her chest.

Oliver raises an eyebrow at her words and Felicity just gives him a look that clearly tells him to accept the sarcasm. He's lying on the tiles, his arm pillowing his head and watching her every expression closely.

"Look, I'm not proud of what I did. I thought I wasn't good at relationships when I cheated on Laurel with Sara – "

"And then took off to Russia." Felicity interrupts him helpfully.

Oliver shoots her this _look_. It's not very nice. But he then continues.

"I panicked, Felicity. I didn't want to move in with Laurel and I didn't know how to tell her. So, I went to Russia. I know what I did sucked, Felicity, I do. But it's been five years and they both moved on. So did I."

Oliver gives her this level look, as if Felicity should pick up on the message he's trying to give her.

Felicity actually has to think about it for a moment.

So, Laurel clearly moved on with Tommy, Oliver's best friend.

Sara's moved on with someone else, too.

Which means that Oliver's… _oh_.

"You moved on with _me_? It took you five years to move on?" She asks incredulously.

"I told you that I thought I wasn't good at relationships! Besides, isn't there a saying or something about you only move on when you meet someone else?" Oliver replies, rather indignantly, too.

"Yes. But that doesn't apply to people who haven't been in a relationship for _five years_." Felicity tells him, acid dripping from her voice.

"I told you I wasn't good at relationships. Felicity, I was terrible at them. My relationship with Laurel had me running to Russia the first chance I got, _any_ relationship I had over there, I screwed up. Hell, I screwed up with _you_." Oliver snaps at her, his brows furrowing and the look in his eye hardening. "The difference is I want to make it _work_ with you. I wanted to apologize. I want to be in a relationship with you because you _matter_ in a way that everyone else hasn't before. Okay?"

Felicity stares at Oliver.

It's possibly the sweetest thing he's ever said to her.

And, damn it, she can't even be skeptical about it because he's so clearly being honest. Seriously, Oliver could have lied about why he went to Russia.

Felicity then has a light bulb moment.

"But didn't you tell me your Dad was the reason you went to Russia?" She asks and Oliver nods.

"I did. I just didn't tell you that he was _part_ of the reason. He offered me the job in Moscow the day before what happened with Sara. I took it the day after and left." Oliver explains resignedly.

Well, _that's_ sneaky.

Apparently, Oliver's good at omission.

Felicity then rolls her eyes.

Like she didn't know that already.

* * *

"So, how do you know John Diggle?"

They've changed positions. Well, Felicity has at the very least. She's lying on the floor next to Oliver, facing him with her hands cushioning her head. Oliver's still lying on the tiles, only he's turned onto his side so that he can face her, mimicking her position.

Oliver looks at her and raises an eyebrow. "You really need to start calling him John or Diggle, Felicity."

Felicity sticks out her tongue. "No, I don't. Especially after he threatened me with no coffee."

"Diggle was my bodyguard for a while in Russia. He didn't tolerate or approve of a lot of what I was doing." Oliver pauses for a second and then sighs. "He took it upon himself to straighten me out to an extent. Digg's an ex-soldier and, well, he knows self-defense. So, I asked him to teach me. He kicked my ass for a good month or so before I started to get it."

Felicity eyes him because she feels like there's _way_ more to this story than John Diggle being Oliver's bodyguard.

"Get what?" She finally asks because Oliver's clearly not going to elaborate.

Oliver looks at her steadily for a while, his eyes darkening and Felicity suddenly wonders if this conversation is taking a toll on him.

She knows Oliver's not very good with communication and that he doesn't have her ease with words (or her ease with an abundance of words, as it were). Felicity also knows that – thanks to Sara and Laurel – Oliver doesn't talk about or examine his emotions very often.

"Get growing up. He pretty much forced me to acknowledge a lot of what I was doing was selfish and shallow and that I was capable of being more. It was enough of a wake up that I started to want to mend fences." Oliver says quietly and then he sighs. "And you have no idea how many times he reminded me of this when I wouldn't tell you who I was."

Felicity harrumphs at that. She can't help it. She just can't see John Diggle telling Oliver off over what was happening between them.

_Especially_ not when he'd spent a good portion of time trying to tell her Oliver didn't meant to hurt her.

"Sure, he did. 'Cause he didn't keep your secret _at all_. God, you two guarded it like it was a secret identity or something." Felicity tells Oliver and Oliver just shrugs his shoulders.

He _shrugs._

Felicity is _so_ unimpressed with that response.

"I didn't know how to tell you. You didn't seem to know who I was at first and I just figured I'd tell you later. Then, later, you started talking about how you didn't like the new VP and I didn't think you'd react well to me telling you that _I_ was the stupid VP. So, I waited. Clearly too long." Oliver explains for what feels like the hundredth time.

Felicity doesn't say anything to that.

What? Like she's going to contradict him.

Instead, she eyes him because, rather reluctantly too, she's starting to see it from Oliver's point of view.

As stupid as he made her feel with his not telling who he was, Felicity can see she _may_ have given the impression that finding out who Oliver was wouldn't have ended well for them.

After all, she spent quite a long time complaining about the stupid VP from work. Felicity can only imagine how she would have reacted if their positions had been reversed.

Although, Felicity knows she probably would have blurted out who she was the second he brought it up, if their positions were flipped.

"I still don't understand why John Diggle didn't just _make_ you tell me." Felicity says after a moment.

Oliver actually chuckles at that.

"Because John Diggle hasn't been able to kick my ass in three years, babe. That's why."

Felicity has to admit, when Oliver says that?

She gives him an impressed look.

What? John Diggle's huge and his arms look like they could squash mountains.

That her boyfriend can hold his own in a fight with him is impressive.

_Very_ impressive.

* * *

"So, after John Diggle made you grow up, how did you mend fences?"

Felicity asks the question idly not really caring if Oliver answers or not anymore. Oliver gives her this wry look and Felicity smiles a little at him.

He's unbuttoned his shirt so it gapes open a little, exposing his chest and is slouched against the door she'd opened before. One leg is bent at the knee and he's resting his hand on it. He looks like a model.

It's so hot.

Felicity's got no doubt that if Oliver undid even _one_ more button, she'd be all over him, answering questions be damned.

She's really beginning to worry about how easy she is when it comes to Oliver.

But then she looks at him again.

He's so hot; Felicity doesn't think she needs to worry.

"It helped that Laurel and Tommy began hooking up around the same time I had this epiphany." Oliver tells her honestly. "I think they were worried I wouldn't react well but I guess I had enough distance to realize that I had no say either way. I cheated on Laurel and Tommy was my best friend. I wanted Tommy to be happy more than I wanted to be selfish. And if he was happy with Laurel? Well, I could get over it."

Felicity barely manages to restrain an 'aww'. She doesn't think Oliver would appreciate it very much.

It's not like she doesn't know that Tommy's important to Oliver. Just, hearing that Tommy was important enough for him to put Tommy first is heart melting.

Still, she has to say _something_.

"How terribly enlightened of you, Oliver."

Oliver gives her this sharp look as she winces.

Felicity decides she probably shouldn't have sounded so surprised.

Probably.

* * *

"Anything else?"

Felicity considers Oliver's question carefully. They've pretty much gone over his life in the last five years, he's explained why he did what he did, hell at one point he's even explained how he can now beat John Diggle in a fight.

Felicity doesn't really want to examine why she finds that so hot.

The point is, Oliver's been pretty open.

And she's sleepy.

One thing does occur to her, though.

"Why coffee cups?" She asks with a yawn.

"Because it was the only way I could think of to communicate with you, without you throwing it back in my face."

"Oh. That's so sweet, Oliver."

"Thanks."

* * *

Felicity isn't sure when she fell asleep.

Actually, she's not entirely sure _how_ she fell asleep.

Seriously, Oliver's bathroom floor is _so_ not comfortable. Combined with Oliver's hard chest – which has been serving as her pillow – Felicity doesn't think she's ever slept anywhere more uncomfortable.

What she does know for _sure_ is that they most definitely fell asleep.

Because she wakes up with a jolt to see a dark haired man standing in the doorway of Oliver's bathroom, grinning widely at them.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" He asks, his gaze running over her and Oliver with obvious glee.

Felicity stares at him.

"Who the hell are you?"

The man's grin widens at her question.

"I think the better question is, who the hell are _you_?"

"Tommy?" Oliver's sleepy voice gives Felicity pause.

Huh.

So this is Tommy, Oliver's best friend.

And she's just, sort of, insulted him.

Perfect.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope everyone liked it and, fingers crossed, I'll get a christmas one shot and the next installment of Of Leather Pants, up. At some point. In the next two weeks. Fingers crossed!


	7. The End

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's the aftermath of their talk and Felicity discovers, really, maybe she should have just suggested Oliver just apologize in the first place and they could have avoided, well, pretty much everything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, hi. New chapter and, sadly, the last chapter too. I'm really sorry that it's taken so long for me to get this up but, well, holidays and Christmas and all those crazy things that happen at this time of year! So, my sincerest apologies for keeping you all waiting for the final chapter of 'Get Fit'.
> 
> Also, I know a lot of you have asked for the Tommy and Laurel wedding and seeing Felicity at the wedding and, to be frank, totally understand why everyone wants to see that. But, well, as I was writing this I realizes that this story was coming to it's own natural conclusion and anything beyond that would feel forced.
> 
> So, my executive decision on this matter is to write the Tommy and Laurel wedding but as a one-shot spin-off and not as an epilogue or a continuation in this particular story. So, look out for that in the next couple of weeks!
> 
> Anyway, I hope that you guys enjoy this final chapter of 'Get Fit'! It was so much fun to write! I cannot, seriously just cannot even express my gratitude for all your reviews and all your encouragement with this story. For something that began as what was supposed to be a one-shot and then a two-shot to have it turn into an actual story that all of you enjoyed is just beyond anything I could have imaged.
> 
> So to everyone who reviewed, favorited and followed this story THANK YOU SO MUCH! You are all amazing and I can't express how grateful I am for the love this story has received! You're all amazing.
> 
> So, look out for the one-shot spin off and, as always, please enjoy this final chapter of 'Get Fit'!  
> Anyway, I hope that you guys enjoy this final chapter of 'Get Fit'! It was so much fun to write!
> 
> Look out for the epilogue!

Tommy Merlyn seems to be taking a little bit too much glee in discovering her and Oliver asleep on Oliver's bathroom door.

He's currently standing in Oliver's massive kitchen, eyeing her with a glint in his eyes that makes Felicity a little bit wary.

She doesn't like that glint anymore than she likes the fact that her hair looks like a birds nest.

Or that she is wearing absolutely no make-up.

Or that Oliver left her alone in the kitchen with Tommy Merlyn in order to, well; Felicity doesn't know why he left the kitchen.

She just knows he's not there anymore.

Which isn't a very good way to begin the aftermath of their big talk.

Honestly.

Who leaves their girlfriend alone in their kitchen with their best friend after they'd sort of made up?

Oliver Queen, that's who.

Huh.

That could almost be song; like the _Ghostbusters_ theme song.

God, her mind is _so_ weird.

"So, how's the wedding plans going?"

Felicity figures that the wedding is a safe place to start. After all, the guy _is_ getting married soon _ish_.

Felicity suddenly realizes that she actually has no idea when he's getting married.

"Oh they're excellent. The wedding coordinator and I have had an excellent time selecting colors, decorations and do you know how difficult it is to figure who to sit next to _whom_? The elite of Starling City is so difficult." Tommy answers a touch dramatically, folding his arms and leaning against the island bench.

Felicity stares.

Okay, so she knows she's gender stereotyping and all but, huh? Laurel didn't strike her as the type of woman to _not_ plan her wedding.

"Um, okay. So, color themes, right? Difficult decisions. I mean, there are so many colors and so many, um," damn it, what's the word? Felicity pauses. " _Shades_. Different shades."

"Like black and white?" Tommy asks, innocently.

Felicity nods frantically. "Yep, shades. There are many, many different shades of colors. Like, red and pink and blue. So, colors and shade themes would be difficult."

Oh, for the love of god, what is she _talking_ about?

Felicity actually has to wonder if she's just saying the words color and shade to make it sound like she knows what she's talking about.

"Fortunately, there are not that many shades of black and white. Which is why we chose them." Tommy informs her with a smile.

Felicity just gives him a look.

It's not a very nice look and yet, Tommy seems to delight in it.

Felicity wonders if he's a bit perverse.

She then jumps when she feels Oliver slide an arm around her waist and pull her back against his chest.

So, Oliver apparently disappeared in order to change his shirt.

Felicity knows this because his arm is now bare instead of half covered by a shirtsleeve.

Absently, she runs a finger over the corded muscles of his forearm.

She really just can't help herself.

"Tommy, what are you doing here?" Oliver asks casually, as if his best friend hadn't caught them sleeping on the bathroom floor or anything weird like that.

Because Felicity is aware that sleeping on the bathroom floor is weird.

"I just came to hang out with my best friend but apparently, you're busy." Tommy says with an eyebrow wiggle.

"That's right. I am. You can let yourself out." Oliver says, matter-of-factly, clearly at ease with ordering his best friend out of his apartment.

Felicity's sure this only comes after years of years of friendship.

She's pretty sure she wouldn't feel comfortable about ordering Tommy Merlyn out so rudely.

Tommy seems to find Oliver funny because he grins and raises his hands in mock surrender, eyeing the two of them mischievously.

"Fine, fine but can I just say – "

Oliver sighs. "Tommy, get out."

"Okay. Okay, okay. Fine." Tommy says with a laugh, moving around them to leave the kitchen. "Felicity it's _so_ good to meet you. We'll all have to go out for drinks sometime. Later, buddy."

With as much impact as he made when he arrived, Felicity watches as Tommy Merlyn leaves Oliver's apartment.

Felicity stares after him.

Well, that was interesting.

* * *

It's only after Tommy leaves that Felicity suddenly realizes that she and Oliver might have to talk about their talk.

Frowning, Felicity has to think about that.

She didn't realize that they'd have to talk about talking.

Huh.

She hadn't thought this through.

Actually, she hadn't thought that talking could lead to more talking and she didn't want to talk anymore.

"So. What now?" Oliver asks after a moment of silence.

Felicity wrinkles her nose.

She turns in the circle of his arm and looks up at Oliver with a frown. He's looking down at her with this expression on his face that suggests that he's not overly keen on talking anymore, either.

Felicity just groans and lets her forehead fall onto his chest.

"I don't know."

"That's helpful."

Oliver sounds amused as he wraps his other arm around her and rubs a hand up her back, causing a shiver to run up and down her spine.

She really doesn't understand why Oliver stroking her like a cat makes her want to stretch and purr.

It's weird.

It also makes her realize that despite their little catnap – ha! She's so clever – it's made her more tired than rested.

Which is weird, as well.

She thinks it might have been the floor.

"I know. Can we just…order pizza and watch a movie? I'm tired." She asks plaintively.

Oliver doesn't answer her straight away. He does rub his hand up and down her back again though and this time, Felicity groans just a little.

His hands are making her want to fall asleep.

The quiet is helping, too.

She knows this because her eyelids are growing heavy.

"Are you going to forgive me?" Oliver asks, his voice low and slightly strained.

Felicity probably wouldn't answer except for the strain in his voice. It makes her open her eyes and consider his question. It also makes her realize that in spite of all the talking they've just done, Oliver hasn't apologized.

Closing her eyes again, Felicity wonders if she can actually continue, well, any of this.

This whole drama has taken up her whole life for way to long and it's just made her tired. Besides, really, apart from the whole not telling her his last name and avoiding talking about it, what has Oliver done wrong?

Pretty much nothing and she's turned it into a drama.

Besides, if she's honest, she's pretty sure she's in love with the guy.

So, why drag it out?

"If you say sorry."

Apparently, she doesn't need a why to drag it out. She just has to open her mouth.

Excellent.

She could give lessons in dragging things out.

Lesson one; let your mouth say whatever it likes.

Lesson two; don't say anything after, unless you want to make it worse.

Lesson three; make it worse.

Felicity feels like maybe, this time, she can stop at lesson one.

Maybe.

Just as she opens her mouth to enact lesson three and make it worse, Oliver lets out a low chuckle and presses a kiss to her forehead.

Lifting his hands to her face, Oliver frames it and tilts her head up, so he can look her in the eyes.

"Felicity, I'm sorry. I'm sorry I lied to you and hurt you. I'm sorry I didn't tell you my last name. Can you forgive me?"

His delivery is quiet, sincere and his gaze is steady as he apologizes and Felicity is mesmerized by it.

So, apparently, Oliver doesn't need to say a lot to apologize and _why_ couldn't he have just done this when she was less mad?

It would have saved a lot of time.

And, you know what…Felicity sighs.

She's too tired to overthink this.

"Yes, Oliver, I forgive you." She says simply.

Oliver's expression softens and Felicity actually feels the tension leave him, watching curiously as his shoulders loosen.

Amazing.

Felicity wonders how much grief they would have saved if they'd just had this whole exchange, like, a month ago.

Oliver leans down and presses a kiss to her lips. It soft, slow and sweet and Felicity sighs against his mouth.

Oliver really does know how to kiss.

When he pulls away, Felicity opens her eyes and smiles up at him, a little dreamily and it widens when she sees the half smile on Oliver's face.

"Can we order pizza now?" She asks.

Oliver laughs at that.

"Sure."

* * *

Felicity wakes the next morning curled up comfortably against her boyfriend.

At least, she's pretty sure Oliver's her boyfriend.

She's going to be really annoyed if they went through all of this and he dumped her for being too much effort.

Not that he would.

But… _why_ is she thinking about this? Honestly, she needs help. Oliver's not going to dump her. Felicity knows this.

And yet…no, nope, no he's not going to dump her.

Ever, if she can help it.

"Stop thinking."

Oliver's voice is low and sleepy as his hand slides up to tangle in her hair and Felicity snuggles a little closer at that.

"How do you know I'm thinking?" She asks, a little sourly actually.

Since when does Oliver know her so well?

"You move when you're thinking."

Huh.

Before she can think about the fact that apparently, she moves when she's thinking and Oliver's paid enough attention to notice, Oliver presses a long kiss to her forehead.

Then makes a low sound in his throat. "Come on, let's go to the gym."

Felicity groans at the mention of the gym even as Oliver rolls her over onto her back and gets up in two fluid movements.

"Seriously?" Felicity asks, throwing an arm over her eyes in an attempt to ignore him and his suggestion.

She feels Oliver move to hover over her and pulls her arm down enough just to look at him. Oliver's looking at her with a hint of mischief and Felicity narrows her eyes.

She doesn't like this look.

"Seriously." He says with a somber nod. "It hasn't been the same working out without you staring at me."

Felicity goes bright red.

Damn it.

He _had_ noticed her staring all those weeks ago.

How embarrassing.

* * *

"So, you decided to forgive him?"

Sara's voice scares the hell out of Felicity, who stops pretending to work out to look at the blond.

Sara looks amused and Felicity feels like she should come up with a legitimate excuse to her staring. Except, well, Oliver's wearing a tank that's loose and it, just, maybe, shows more of his body than it hides.

Not that she's complaining.

Obviously she's not complaining.

Sara's caught her staring and not working out.

So, maybe she's going to have to start working out when Oliver's not around. So far, she's walked on the treadmill and sat down to do leg weights.

Not that she's done any leg weights.

Oliver's in her line of vision, doing some weights of his own.

Felicity has to admit, while John Diggle has arms that could move mountains, Oliver's arms are _so_ much better.

But then, she's incredibly biased.

"Yep. Otherwise I just look like the pathetic, stalkerish ex-girlfriend who's really bad at covert stalking."

Sara appears to not quite know what to do with what's just come out of her mouth and Felicity sort of feels like she should apologize.

Then again, what's just come out of her mouth is hardly the worst thing that's ever left it.

She's just lucky like that.

"That's good? At least he's saving you from being a stalker, right?" Sara asks, folding her arm and leaning against the weight machine.

Felicity eyes the blond and then nods.

"It is good. I guess I'm lucky. He decided it was worth not making me a weird stalker." Felicity says and then continues thoughtfully. "I don't think I would have become a crazy stalker person, anyway. If anything, I'm pretty sure I'd go the opposite route and quit QC and move cities just to avoid him. I was considering giving up coffee altogether when I wasn't speaking to him."

Sara's laughing before she even finishes.

Felicity would be offended except Sara seems to laugh a lot when she's around and it's never mean.

She just seems to think Felicity's funny.

"Oh, Felicity, I think you're probably the best thing to ever happen to Oliver." Sara says in between fits of giggles.

Felicity blinks a little.

What a nice thing for Sara to say.

Turning her attention to Oliver, who either hasn't noticed her talking to Sara or has but is choosing to ignore them, Felicity shrugs.

"I think so too."

Sara laughs even harder at her reply.

* * *

Felicity has to admit, the look on John Diggle's face when she and Oliver walk into his coffee shop hand in hand, is priceless.

He stops frothing the milk and stares at them.

Hard.

Like, he's trying to gauge whether this is just a prelude to another screw up or if this is some sort of screwed up joke they're playing on him.

It's actually quite intimidating.

Felicity sort of wants to look away.

Oliver doesn't though.

He just squeezes her hand and nods once.

Apparently, this is enough of a confirmation of their reunion for John Diggle to put the milk down on the counter.

He then raises his hands upwards.

"Hallelujah."

Felicity would be absolutely offended if she didn't know that John Diggle was over this well, he was probably over the whole thing before it had even begun.

So, really, this is probably a tame reaction for John Diggle.

Still.

"We weren't _that_ bad."

The look John Diggle levels at her protest makes Felicity cower a little behind Oliver.

It was _mean_.

She then pinches Oliver's arm because his shoulders shake and Felicity bets that he's laughing.

At her.

"Ow!"

Oliver shoots her a disbelieving look and Felicity just shrugs.

What?

He shouldn't have laughed at her.

"I reserve the right to never be involved in another fight between the two of you again, you hear? Never again. Because you were _that_ bad." John Diggle states this authoritatively, looking between the two of them with raised eyebrows.

Felicity doesn't know why.

_She's_ not the one that got John Diggle involved in all of this.

But, well, she doesn't like that look.

"Yep. Sure. Never again. No more, we're all good and back together and plan on having no more fights. So you can't ban me from coffee, again. Okay? No more fighting. Right, Oliver? Otherwise I don't get coffee." Felicity says with complete authority.

She's pretty sure it hasn't come out sounding like she has complete authority.

If anything, Felicity's got a feeling she sounds like she's trying to get out of trouble.

Oliver doesn't help.

His shoulders start shaking again.

So, she pinches him again.

"Ow! Felicity!" He exclaims, shooting her a dirty look.

"Stop laughing at me." She hisses and Oliver opens his mouth to reply when he catches John Diggle's eye.

John Diggle is giving them a scary look.

Like, an I'm-the-principle-and-you're-in-trouble look.

It's terrifying.

"We're all good." Oliver says, squeezing her hand again.

Felicity thinks this squeeze might be in warning.

Still, Oliver's words work cause John Diggle gives them both a sharp nod.

"Good. Now go away. I'll get to your order soon."

Oliver's shoulders start shaking again and Felicity decides not to pinch him this time.

He's not laughing at her this time.

She's pretty sure he's not, anyway.

* * *

It takes her maybe one day to ask Oliver something she probably should have asked before they'd announced they were back together to, well, actually to John Diggle.

Of everyone who knew about them, Felicity's pretty sure the only one who they shouldn't have told before they'd cleared what she's thinking about would be John Diggle.

She wouldn't put it past him to initiate a coffee embargo if he found this out.

Still, the question needs to be asked.

"Oliver, how is this going to work?" Oliver's standing in her kitchen, stirring a really, really nice smelling pasta sauce when Felicity voices the question. "I mean, not your cooking. Obviously you know how to cook and you clearly don't want me to cook. But, us. You and me. Us with a capital 'U'. A couple. Now. After."

Felicity stops talking when Oliver raises his eyebrows at her.

Could she have _sounded_ anymore like a dork?

Seriously.

Before she can open her mouth and make it worse, Felicity picks up her wine glass and gulps the red wine Oliver's bought down. She figures it'll stop her from saying anything even more stupid as Oliver stops stirring and walks over to lean against the counter top.

He's watching her with his 'you're-so-adorable' look on his face.

Felicity likes this look.

"I'm not saying that we need to, you know, make a plan or anything but - "

Oliver reaches over and catches the hand she's waving around and brings it to his mouth to press a kiss to it.

"Felicity, relax. Let's just take it one day at a time. We'll figure it out." Oliver says, his lips ticking upwards as she huffs a little at his words. "I didn't spend early mornings writing on coffee cups with Diggle glaring at me for you to freak out now." Oliver tells her, amusement lacing his tone.

Felicity doesn't appreciate the amusement.

"But - "

Oliver leans over to press a kiss to her mouth, effectively ending her argument and Felicity sighs against his mouth and relaxes into his kiss. When he pulls away, she opens her eyes and Oliver squeezes her hand.

"Relax. It'll be fine."

Felicity too busy thinking about kissing Oliver again to reply or even think about what he's saying.

Because that's not a problem.

At all.

* * *

It turns out, Oliver's right about it being fine.

Because they fall back into the relationship they had before.

This is sort of surprising given the last month they've had and the fact that Felicity is aware enough that something probably _should_ have changed.

She'd made a big enough deal over his last name to ensure that.

But it really hasn't.

Well, it mostly hasn't.

The basis of their relationship is still the same. Felicity feels comfort from knowing she can talk to Oliver for hours over coffee again, text him whenever she wants and know he's going to reply and just, generally, hang out with him again.

So, that hasn't changed.

What _has_ changed, though, is the fact that Oliver seems to have decided that now she knows just _who_ he is.

He can spoil her rotten.

Seriously.

He's like a kid at Christmas.

Felicity has never actually been spoiled like this before in her entire life. Honestly, she's been to more of Starling City's exclusive restaurants in the last two weeks than she'd ever thought she'd get to in her life.

He's taken her on helicopter rides, drives to vineyards and, on one memorable occasion, out on the boat his family owns.

It was mostly memorable because Felicity discovered she gets seasick.

Ridiculously seasick.

The inside of the boat was lovely, though.

Well, actually, the roof of the bedroom she'd been in on _Queen's Folly_ was lovely.

She didn't get to see much else.

But the point is, Oliver seems to enjoy taking her do all these things and essentially, using the wealth she hadn't known he had to spoil her.

Felicity had never considered dating a wealthy man and she certainly had _never_ thought she would have dated someone who enjoyed the billion dollar status that Oliver enjoys but, if she ever had, she has to admit she didn't think she'd feel as comfortable with it is as she does.

She thinks it might be because it's _Oliver_ who she's dating.

Or maybe it's because Oliver knows her well enough to never go overboard with it.

Sure, he takes her out on amazing dates that pretty much blow her mind and make Felicity realize that she's _never_ going to go on dates better than this but Oliver also knows to never actually buy her anything or give her gifts that really, only he can buy.

He also remembers to balance the extravagant nature of their dates with nights in with take out and a movie.

So, really, it's like she's in the same relationship except it's, sort of, better.

Mostly because now that she knows who he is, Oliver seems lighter. Happier.

He also gets to visit Felicity down at her desk without having to explain why he's anywhere near Queens Consolidated.

It's really nice.

So, basically, the relationship she's in now?

Is twenty times better than the one she could have envisioned even when she was really, _really_ mad at him.

Who knew?

Obviously, she didn't.

Pushing open the door to Diggle's coffee shop, sweaty from her solo work out, Felicity spots Oliver sitting in their booth with sipping on his coffee with a coffee and a muffin waiting for her opposite him.

He's already been to the gym and is waiting for her in one of the many tailored suits that just makes him that much more attractive.

Smiling in greeting at Diggle, Felicity doesn't try and control the swoop in her stomach that she's come to recognize as happiness.

If she'd known just being with Oliver could make her as happy as being without him had made her unhappy, Felicity thinks she might have suggested he apologize sooner.

Either that, or maybe she shouldn't have overreacted and kept overreacting after, well, overreacting.

Oliver looks up and offers her a small smile as she walks over to him.

"Hi."

But, well, her continuous overreacting?

That's just semantics

Felicity knows this as she leans down to kiss Oliver briefly in greeting before sliding into the booth opposite him and picking up her coffee.

"Hi."

The semantics don't really matter, really.

Not now.

Because her relationship with Oliver now?

Is so much better than Felicity ever imagined it could have been.

_So_ much better.

Seriously.

Who knew her snap decision to get fit would have caused so much drama?

Or given her an incredibly hot boyfriend?

Or, actually, led to her getting fit?

Felicity isn't sure which is more incredible but, looking at Oliver, she decides she doesn't really care.

Her decision to get fit was the best one she ever made.

Ever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR SUPPORT! YOU'RE ALL WONDERFUL!
> 
> And look out for the wedding spin-off, hopefully it'll be up soon!


	8. The Wedding

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so, this was originally going to be one shot and then, well, it got really long and, also, it totally didn't happen as quickly as I would have liked – my muse deserted me – and I hope you forgive me for the amount of time waited and the length.
> 
> So, warning, this is long! It might not quite what you all were expecting but I quite like it. You'll see why I quite like this towards the end.
> 
> As always, please enjoy and for all of you who have supported 'Get Fit' another big THANK YOU to all of you, who read, reviewed and clicked the favorite button!

Felicity is _freaking out_.

In about five minutes, Oliver's going to knock on her door and expect her to be all ready to go to what's been labeled by various news outlets as Starling City's wedding of the year.

Felicity feels like if she'd known this, she absolutely would not have agreed to go to the wedding with Oliver.

This is the ultimate nightmare for someone like her.

All those wealthy, important people crammed into one room.

Celebrating a marriage.

Eager to talk to everyone in attendance.

Including her.

Especially after they all find out that she's there as Oliver Queen's date.

Actually, no, not _just_ his date.

She's going to be there as his girlfriend, too.

The girlfriend of Oliver Queen who's spent a good six months entwining her life with his to such a point Felicity's not entirely sure she can remember her life before him.

Actually, that's not entirely true.

She can imagine her life before him and it involved staring at Oliver at the gym, drinking lots and lots of coffee with him and then freaking out because he turned out to be Oliver Queen and not Oliver-who-manages-the-gym-without-a-last-name.

So, six months _after_ he told her they were going to take it one day at time, she's going to meet all the people who are interested in Oliver Queen's girlfriend.

Which is who she is.

Oh, God.

Felicity feels like she needs to sit down.

She absolutely doesn't understand why Oliver decided that their first public outing since she discovered that her Oliver was actually Oliver Queen has to be the wedding of the year.

After nearly eight months of knowing her, he should know better.

Seriously.

It's a publicized wedding.

Where he's best man.

And his entire family is in attendance.

Oh, God.

His _family_ is going to be there.

There is no way she can do this.

Felicity wonders if Oliver will accept her resignation as his date to this.

She then wonders if Oliver will laugh just laugh at her if she even utters the words 'resigning as your date.'

Because, really, who resigns from going on a date.

Besides her, of course.

Which she is going to do as soon as Oliver knocks on the door, effective immediately.

She might even go to the gym to hide out while it's going on.

John Diggle's not going to the wedding of the year, so maybe she can even go and hang out with him while this wedding goes on.

He gives her free coffee now.

Mostly because Oliver never lets her pay when he's there and John Diggle just decided to give up asking her for money.

Best boyfriend's best friend, _ever_.

Felicity decides that maybe this is definitely the best plan of action ever.

Working out, coffee and John Diggle.

And, okay, it's actually late afternoon and John Diggle's coffee shop might not be open but still.

That sounds _so_ much better than wedding of the year, Oliver's family and wealthy people drinking alcohol.

Felicity stands, ostensibly to go and find her work out clothes when she hears a knock at the door.

Oliver's here.

Felicity reacts without thinking.

"I'm not here!"

She then squeezes her eyes shut because you know what? One day, she's going to start reacting _after_ thinking.

That way she'd stop doing things like answering a door knock, _she shouldn't answer_.

So, she squeezes her eyes shut tightly and prays that the person she'd yelled at _wasn't_ her boyfriend and that they _would_ listen to her.

Because if it's her boyfriend well, she's just gotten a head start on amusing him and he'll just walk in.

A habit he's picked up over the course of their courtship.

That she might have to try and break in him.

Soon.

"Felicity? Where are you?" Oliver's voice sounds far away, like in her entrance away and curious.

She can only imagine that he probably thought she'd answer her door.

"I'm not in my room!"

You know what? If she weren't so afraid of messing up the messy up-do she'd spent a good hour working on, Felicity would fall backwards onto her bed and possibly screamed.

Because there she goes, reacting without thinking again.

Like an _idiot_.

And idiot who, really, shouldn't be worried about her hair considering she's going to the gym and to hang out with Diggle.

Not stand in the middle of her room with her eyes closed.

Because she's _freaking out_.

"What are you doing?"

Oliver's clearly ignored pretty much everything she's said and, if she didn't like her boyfriend as much as she does, she might be pretty irritated with him right now.

But she really, really, really likes him, so she just sort of awkwardly shrugs her shoulders.

"I'm going to the gym. You can go to the wedding. That's fine. Just apologize to Tommy and Laurel for me, okay? Because me going to this wedding is a really, really, _really_ bad idea and I don't think I'll be able to cope with how bad an idea this actually is, okay?" Felicity explains, perhaps sounding slightly hysterical by the end of her explanation.

There is absolute silence following her announcement.

For a second there, she's pretty sure Oliver might have left the room.

He does that sometimes. Just, sort of, walks out when he thinks she's being irrational and he doesn't want to argue with her.

He doesn't do it a lot.

Just when he thinks she's not making sense or able to carry a rational conversation.

Like that one time when she pulled all her furniture into a line so it would divide her living room.

Oliver had walked out then.

Felicity's just beginning to think that Oliver really _has_ walked out when she hears him let out a breathy chuckle.

She then jumps, like a mile, because he slides his hand over her hip to the small of her back.

"Felicity, open your eyes." Oliver says it coaxingly and Felicity's got an inkling he'd figured she was going to freak out.

So, she opens her eyes.

She then wishes she'd had them open when Oliver had walked into her room because she never wants to miss a second of Oliver Queen in a tuxedo.

Because Oliver Queen in a tux is _hot_.

Feeling a little bit dumbfounded, Felicity offers a breathy, "hi."

Oliver smiles at her. "Hi. You look amazing."

Felicity blushes at the subtle reverence in Oliver's voice because when a man this hot is complimenting you, what else are you supposed to do?

Besides, he'd better compliment her on this dress.

It cost her an arm and a leg but it had looked so pretty when she'd tried it on, the deep pink floor-length gown with the plunging v in the back and the slit up the side.

She'd felt confident and sexy and capable in it and she'd figured she'd need all of that going to this wedding.

Which is not the point, anymore, because she's not going to the wedding.

But still, Oliver had better appreciate this dress.

"Thank you. You look pretty good yourself." She tells him and Oliver's smile widens. "I'm still not going."

Felicity wonders what his strategy is going to be when Oliver's smile drops a little at her words.

Before she can wonder too much, though, Oliver leans down and kisses her.

Felicity's discovered that Oliver has this weird physical hold over her. He can successfully distract her from pretty much _anything_ just by kissing her.

And don't get her started on what happens when he takes off his shirt.

Oliver pulls away ever so slightly and Felicity can't help but smile at him a little dreamily when she opens her eyes.

"Felicity, you're going."

And _that_ is how Oliver gets her out the door.

* * *

The wedding itself is gorgeous.

The ceremony is being held in the ballroom of Starling Hotel, a hotel built in the twenties that had been renovated recently and was now the favored place for high society functions and the wedding of the year is no exception.

Felicity knew that the color scheme was going to be black and white, according to Tommy, anyway.

What she hadn't expected was the silver and the dashes of red around the room, too.

Clearly, Laurel had more to do with the wedding than she'd been led to believe.

Led to believe by Tommy and Felicity really has to start rethinking trusting Tommy Merlyn. She feels like one day, it's just going to get her into trouble.

Laurel she can trust – even if she does scare the crap out of her – because Laurel hasn't once steered her wrong.

A feat considered Felicity's dating her ex-boyfriend who abandoned her to go to Russia.

Then again, Laurel's marrying her ex-boyfriends best friend.

So, maybe they're even.

And maybe, they all should really think about bringing some new friends into their friendship group.

Because it's a little television-show-incestuous.

"Felicity, hey!"

Felicity jumps like a mile at the sound of someone saying her name.

Mostly because all the people she knows at this wedding are _in_ the wedding party and after Oliver had escorted her into the ballroom, he'd had five seconds to kiss her forehead and promise to see her after the wedding before going to join the groomsmen in Tommy's last fifteen minutes as a single man.

Sort of as a single man.

So, to say she's surprised to hear somebody call out her name is an _understatement_.

Especially when that person is Sara Lance.

Who looks both gorgeous and foreign in her red maid of honor dress with her blond hair artfully curled to fall around her face softly.

Felicity's pretty sure she prefers Sara in her slightly scarier all black gym ensemble.

Still, she smiles. "Hi Sara."

Sara comes to a stop in front of her and looks her up and down with a grin.

"No wonder Oliver was grinning when I saw him. You look great." Sara tells her with a smirk.

Felicity isn't sure what to do with that information.

Before she can come up with an answer, Sara slips an arm around somebody's waist and Felicity finds herself face to face with an Amazon.

A _scary_ amazon.

The woman standing in front of her is wearing a deep red dress with her long dark curls falling in disarray around her shoulders and an air of cool confidence highlighting the fact that she's, like, a foot taller than Felicity.

She's making Felicity feel, well, inadequate isn't the word.

But she's definitely aware she's not an amazon.

Before Felicity can greet Sara and this woman, Sara speaks again.

"Felicity, this is my girlfriend, Nyssa. I was hoping – "

Before Sara can even finish her sentence, Felicity reacts without thinking.

 _Again_.

It's an epidemic.

One she wished she'd started any other day but this one.

"Oh my god, you're the girl that made Sara tell Laurel about Oliver!"

Sara freezes and Nyssa's eyes narrow.

And Felicity?

Well, Felicity simultaneously realizes what she's said and that she probably shouldn't have said it.

And she was worried about alcohol making it worse.

Who is she kidding?

She doesn't need alcohol to make it worse.

She just needs to open her mouth.

This couldn't have gotten off to a better start.

 _Not_.

* * *

So, Nyssa turns out to be all right.

Mostly because Felicity is pretty sure Nyssa has _never_ met anyone like her before and finds Felicity amusing more than insulting.

Given their introduction, Felicity feels like this could be a good thing.

Besides, they're both in the odd position of _having_ partners but not having them _with_ them.

If that even makes sense.

Felicity thinks it sort of does.

Either way, it works out okay for the two of them.

They claim seats behind Laurel's family and Felicity manages to gain the aisle seat.

Which turns out to be a great seat.

Because she stares at Oliver for pretty much the entire ceremony.

She can't help it.

The second she sees him standing up there with Tommy, Felicity sort of loses her breath.

Because he looks so gorgeous standing up there, in his tux the serious expression on his face giving way to a slight smile the second he catches her eye.

It's not hard to imagine him standing in Tommy's place in a couple of years.

Waiting for her.

Oh, God.

Felicity doesn't even blink at that thought.

Which is surprising because she should be absolutely _freaking out_.

Technically, because really, which thought was scarier? Meeting his family or marrying Oliver?

Apparently, meeting his family is cause for a freak out.

Not marrying the guy.

Instead of a freak out, a bone deep comfort seeps through her at the idea of marrying Oliver.

Because, somehow, Felicity's pretty sure she's going to marry one Oliver Queen – regardless of how they began their relationship – and the realization is absolutely _not_ frightening.

Even given the circumstances of the beginning of their relationship.

Which was partly her fault.

But, whatever.

The point is, Oliver looks so handsome and right standing up there that Felicity can't stop watching him.

There are times she does watch him out of the corner of her eye, though.

Like when Laurel walks down the aisle, clutching her father's arm and beyond beautiful in a sleek lace gown, the patterns of the lace swirling down her arms to her wrists and her veil nothing more than netting edged with the same lace pattern draped over her loose hair.

Though she's watching Oliver, Felicity catches Tommy's expression the second he sees his bride.

Heartfelt, stunned, joyful.

There are so many adjectives to describe Tommy's expression when he sees her; Felicity actually tears up a little.

Because Tommy looks _so_ happy right now and Laurel's grin when she's standing up there with him is blinding, as well.

But it's the look Oliver's giving her when she turns her eyes back to him that makes Felicity lose her breath.

Because, oh yes, she's definitely going to marry Oliver Queen.

Which is good news for her.

Considering she not only really, really, _really_ likes him.

But she's definitely in love with him, too.

* * *

Floating a little bit from watching Oliver at the ceremony, Felicity is so _not_ prepared for somebody to grab her arm after the ceremony.

Nor is she prepared to trip over her own feet because of it.

Or lose Nyssa in the crowd.

But she does lose Nyssa and she does trip and the only thing that keeps her from landing on the floor is the hand gripping her arm.

"I'm so sorry. Are you okay?"

The snappily dressed brunette – who's still holding her arm – is eyeing her in both concern and calculation and Felicity can't help but stare back at her.

To be fair, the brunette is busily staring at her too.

So, she's not being rude.

But still, there's something about the way the brunette is looking at her that's making Felicity feel a little bit itchy.

She's also got a strange feeling that she's seen this girl before.

"Thea?"

The cultured tones of a stylishly dressed blond woman cause the brunette to reluctantly let go of her arm.

Not before Felicity recognizes just _who_ the brunette is.

She's pretty sure the color drains from her face.

Felicity then reacts again.

Because this is what she does.

" _You're_ Oliver's sister."

The brunette's eyes flash at her words and she grins widely at Felicity half-reverent, half-terrified tone.

"I am. And you must be my brother's new mysterious girlfriend, who he's been seeing for at least four months. At least, four months that _I_ know of." Thea says, her eyes alight with curiosity before turning to the blond woman whose hand is resting on the elbow of tall man with a distinguished air. "Mom, Walter, this is Oliver's new girlfriend."

Oliver's mother and stepfather both appraise her and Felicity forgets how to breathe.

Oh, dear Lord.

Oliver's mother.

Oliver's sister.

Oliver's stepfather.

All looking at her curiously, like she's a foreign species they've never seen before. All interested in her because of Oliver. All wondering about their relationship.

All standing in front of her and she has no shield.

None.

Because Oliver's in the wedding party.

So, he's not here to protect her.

At all.

Felicity looks between the three curious faces and isn't entirely sure what to do.

For once, she has nothing to say.

Zilch. Nada. Nothing.

Cue _major_ freak out.

* * *

So, Moira Queen is one scary woman.

The three of them had steered her away from the crowd she'd been trying to follow and into the reception hall, where guests were milling around, drinking champagne and waiting for the bridal party to enter.

Felicity absolutely refuses the champagne.

Because, seriously, her reacting without thinking epidemic would just get worse if she drank.

Even if she might need some liquid courage to deal with Oliver's mother.

Who really _is_ scary.

Felicity feels like it says something about Oliver that all the women in his life scare her.

Although, that's not quite true.

Thea's pretty nice.

She's bitingly sarcastic and intelligent and Felicity can see her chafing against both the restraints of her birth even while she embraces them.

Which is a bit disconcerting, to be honest.

Maybe Thea should go to Russia.

It helped Oliver.

When she suggests this, Thea bursts out laughing as if Felicity's said something hilariously funny.

"Oh, no, I couldn't go to Russia. High society girls can't be groomed to be wives of high society men if they're on another continent." Thea says, her tone casual and her mother frowns.

Felicity doesn't get it. "Um, okay?"

Before Thea can continue down this part of the conversation, Moira Queen interjects.

Obviously, she's not a fan of Thea's thoughts on Russia.

"Felicity, may I ask where you met my son?" Moira inquires, her smile encouraging, her tone faintly censorious.

Felicity doesn't really know what to do with the tone.

So, she decides to just answer the question.

"At the gym." Felicity answers as confidently as possible.

She's is _so_ not getting into the story of how her and Oliver both met and then, sort of, met again.

Because, really, Moira Queen does _not_ need to know the rest of this story.

Or how easy she is when it comes to her son.

A _week_ of no talking 'cause he kept taking his shirt off.

Seriously.

"Oh?"

Felicity has no doubt it's an inquiry into the rest of the story.

So, she clamps her lips shut.

She's not getting into this.

"Yes. I decided to get fit and, well, Oliver goes to the gym I joined. Technically, though, I saw him first at John Diggle's coffee shop. 'Cause that was my reward when I went to the gym. Getting coffee and I ran into him once." Felicity frowns as she recalls that she ran into him twice. "Actually, it might have been twice. I think it was twice. The second time I sprayed him with my water bottle. The first I told him he was a brick wall. Not that I was hitting on him then, I just, you know, making an observation. About his chest. That's hard as a, well, a brick wall."

Oh, god, somebody stop her.

What happened to _not_ getting into the story?

Moira Queen's inquiry, apparently.

Because Felicity _really_ doesn't want to offend the mother of her boyfriend.

And she's doing a really bang up job of that given how high Moira Queen's eyebrows have gone.

Thea's choking on her champagne, too.

Moira's husband looks like he doesn't know whether to be amused or not.

See?

This is why she should have gone to the gym and John Diggle's coffee shop.

Instead of coming to this wedding and being left to fend for herself against Oliver's family and their inquiries.

Before she can open her mouth and, you know, make it _worse_ , she feels someone slide an arm around her waist.

Felicity doesn't jump.

She does let out a sigh of relief, though.

'Cause Oliver is clearly there to rescue her.

"Hi," he murmurs in her ear before smiling at his family. "Hi, Mom. I see you've all met Felicity."

Felicity slides a hand over Oliver's, gripping it tightly and he squeezes it in return.

Thea seems to be watching this intently, as if she's searching for something in their interaction.

Felicity doesn't know what.

Because all she's going to see is unparalleled relief from her.

Oliver can deal with his family from now on.

She's done.

"Yep. I think you should keep her, Ollie." Thea answers his question with a surprising seriousness.

Felicity feels a warm glow in her stomach at that.

Because that's a really, really, really nice thing for Thea to say.

And she hasn't even said anything important.

Like, how she feels for Oliver.

Before Oliver can reply or Moira Queen can comment on how badly Felicity's story of how they'd met had gone, someone announces that the bride and groom would be entering in two minutes.

Oliver presses a kiss to the side of her head.

"Save me a dance."

Before Felicity can respond, he squeezes her hand once more and slips away from her.

Leaving her all alone with his family.

Again.

What a stand up boyfriend she has.

Really.

* * *

Oliver's family turns out to not be so bad.

Mostly because as soon as Oliver leaves her, Laurel and Tommy really do enter the room and any form of interrogation she might have been facing has to be put on hold.

Also, Felicity's not sitting at the table with them.

So that helps, _a lot._

Felicity thinks that maybe she shouldn't decide that they're not that bad when she doesn't _really_ have anything to do with them after that.

But, then again, if she's going to continue dating Oliver, than she'll probably have to deal with them again at some point.

Especially considering Felicity's pretty sure Oliver's mother _probably_ has more questions for her.

Though Felicity likes to think that she might have put her off.

Just might, though.

In any case, Felicity doesn't have enough time to really think about just _how_ embarrassing telling Oliver's mother he's built like a brick was because as soon as Laurel and Tommy enter the room, the reception starts.

Felicity finds that she's highly entertained by the people sitting at her table.

They're all mostly work friends of Laurel's and they're all very nice and they seem to find it fascinating that she's in IT.

They also all assume she's a friend of Sara's.

Felicity genuinely has no idea why.

So, okay, she didn't make an announcement that her plus one as sitting at the bridal table and their assumption isn't unfounded, because she actually _is_ a friend of Sara's but still.

She and Tommy have Tuesday drinks now (much to Oliver's mixed terror and delight).

So, she's not friends with _just_ Sara.

Somehow, though, Felicity finds it within herself to not comment on her relationships with the people at the bridal table or, why, exactly, she's there.

Clearly, her reacting-without-thinking epidemic is limited solely to the Queen family.

Goody.

That'll make Christmas interesting.

Not.

Still, Felicity finds she's enjoying the company and tries to not get caught watching Oliver.

Who clearly doesn't care if he gets caught watching her because every time she glances over, his eyes meet hers and she blushes.

Felicity's pretty sure she matches her face matches her dress now.

It fades a little as Sara suddenly stands and the speeches begin.

Most of them revolve around how Tommy and Laurel are good for each other and how nobody would have paired them together but somehow, they work.

Sara takes personal credit for their relationship because _she_ was the one that had pointed out to Laurel she was actually _in_ a relationship.

It wouldn't have grown serious, if she hadn't.

Laurel's father, Quentin's, speech is much shorter and to the point. Tommy ducks his head when he implies he knows everything Tommy's done because he has his police records and if he hurts his daughter, he won't be responsible for what he does with them.

Oliver's the last to speak and he entertains the crowd with anecdotes of Tommy and Laurel in high school, how awkward it was to find out just how much Tommy liked her and then how funny it was watching them fumble around figuring it out.

Felicity's not going to lie.

She pays the most attention to Oliver's speech.

She figures at the end of the anecdote where he'd pulled Tommy out of a bar to go and talk to Laurel, he's going to finish when he pauses. "I'll admit, after that night I never thought I'd meet a woman who could drive me to drink the way Laurel can drive Tommy to drink and I mean that in the nicest possible way."

Laughter ripples around the room and Felicity suddenly finds that Oliver's looking at her intently.

"I never really got the way he felt about Laurel then and now. I actually thought he was a little crazy when he showed me the ring because I didn't understand that when a woman can drive you to drink and you still want to go home to her, when she can call you in the middle of the day and you answer straight away or when she picks a fight over something that's maybe not _that_ bigof a deal and you spend days figuring out how to make it up to her," Oliver pauses and a few people chuckle but Felicity's frozen in her seat. Because Oliver's looking at her _so_ intently, she can't move.

The girl sitting next to her, Rachel, Felicity thinks she's called leans in. "Is he talking about you?" She sounds both curious and impressed and Felicity suddenly realizes how obvious it is that Oliver's staring at her.

Felicity would say something but her mouth has stopped working.

"Well, when a woman can make you do all those things than you love her differently and more deeply than you've ever loved anyone and that's when you buy the ring." Oliver continues, a small smile pulling at his lips as Felicity's mouth drops open. "I didn't understand that until I met Felicity and now, Tommy and Laurel, I can only hope that we'll drive each other as crazy as you guys do and still want to talk to each other. Congratulations. I hope you guys continue to drive each other crazy and love each other the way you do and have the best life possible. To Tommy and Laurel."

Everyone raises his or her glasses at Oliver's toast.

Except for Felicity.

She's too busy trying to remember how to breathe.

Because that was possibly the most romantic thing Oliver has _ever_ said to her or about her.

Also, possibly the most she's ever heard him talk, too.

At least, in front of a lot of people.

It's a night of shocks, apparently.

Still, Felicity just continues looking at Oliver even as she realizes most of her table are looking at her.

Clearly, they want an explanation.

Well, they're going to have to wait awhile because Felicity's forgotten how to talk.

For the first time _ever_.

As soon as the emcee announces it's time for the first dance, Oliver leaves the bridal table.

Felicity sees him coming but, because she's still acting out a stunned mullet, she doesn't really react to him.

Most of the guests that he walks past and her entire table go quiet as he approaches and Felicity stares up at him when he comes to stand in front of her.

For a second, Felicity can't help but just _look_ at him.

He's still Oliver, he's still the man who abandoned her to his family and made her come to this wedding but Felicity can't even be annoyed at him.

Not when he's standing in front of her and she can remember nearly screwing this up and she just, well, she really, really, _really_ loves him.

"You owe me a dance." Oliver says with a gentle smile and he offers her his hand.

Felicity wordlessly takes it and follows him onto the dance floor. He spins her once before drawing her close and Felicity sighs as she settles into his arms.

Tommy and Laurel grin at them before turning back to each other and Felicity realizes that Oliver's going to start thinking something's wrong if she doesn't say something.

She's pretty sure he times it, actually.

If she doesn't talk in over a minute, then he begins to worry. Two minutes leads to badgering and he doesn't stop after three until she's rambling.

Felicity's pretty sure he thinks if she's rambling, then she's all right.

But she can't think of anything to say except, "I really, really love you, Oliver."

Oliver smiles at down at her, "I love you too, Felicity."

"Oh, I know. So does everyone at the reception. Drive you crazy, huh?"

Oliver pauses swaying long enough to lean down and kiss her. Sighing against his mouth, Felicity accepts the pressure and returns it. When he pulls away, she follows him until he kisses her once more before grinning at her.

"Absolutely and don't you forget it."

Felicity narrows her eyes playfully and then remembers something.

"I told your mother you were built like a brick wall."

Oliver bursts out laughing. "Telling her how we met, were you?"

Felicity nods. "I don't think she really believes we met at the gym, though."

"Given what happened after, who would? Besides Digg." Oliver murmurs and Felicity frowns at Oliver.

"But its true!"

"I know. And I'm always going to feel lucky you chose that gym to go to." Oliver says indulgently.

Felicity smiles at him and leans up to kiss him again because she'll always feel lucky that John Diggle's coffee shop is right next door to the gym.

Always.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for sticking with this long enough to reach the end and this note! I hope you all enjoyed!

**Author's Note:**

> In other news, my last assessment is due on Monday and then...boom! Hopefully, the next part to Leather Pants and Illegal Activities. You know what this means? I get to write about the date! Color me excited!
> 
> In other news, the new season of 'Arrow'? I. Can't. Even. I'm so excited to see what happens!
> 
> So, fingers crossed for Tuesday and I hope you enjoyed the first chapter!


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